hierarchy
part of speech
noun (a hierarchy, hierarchies)
meaning for a pupil
1) A system where people or things are arranged in levels, from the most important or powerful at the top to the least at the bottom. tree →
2) The people in charge of an organisation, such as a church or company. tree →
3) (science, maths) Any ordering of things into levels, like groups inside groups. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history lessons the feudal system is a hierarchy: king, barons, knights, peasants. In science, classification of living things is a hierarchy (kingdom, class, order, family, genus, species). In church life, «hierarchy» means bishops, priests and deacons. In maths, the order of operations is like a hierarchy. Phrases: at the top of the hierarchy, social hierarchy, a pecking order.
examples
- In the feudal hierarchy, the king was at the top. tree →
- Wolves in a pack have a hierarchy. tree →
- Living things are sorted in a hierarchy from kingdom to species. tree →
- The Catholic Church has a hierarchy of bishops and priests. tree →
- At school the hierarchy goes from the head teacher to the teachers and assistants. tree →
- Chickens have a hierarchy called a pecking order. tree →
note
Plural: hierarchies. Pronounced HY-uh-rar-kee. Spelling: hier-archy (i before e here). Adjective: hierarchical. Do not confuse with «hieroglyph» (Egyptian picture writing), which starts the same.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «hierarchy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.