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   Hi·er·ar·chy

   /ˈhī(ə)ˌrärkē/

   

   noun

   • 1. a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority: "the initiative was with those lower down in the hierarchy"
   • ▪ the clergy of the Catholic or Episcopal Church; the religious authorities: "the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Romania"
   • ▪ the upper echelons of a hierarchical system; those in authority: "the magazine was read quite widely even by some of the hierarchy"
   • ▪ an arrangement or classification of things according to relative importance or inclusiveness: "a taxonomic hierarchy of phyla, classes, orders, families, genera, and species"
   • ▪ the traditional system of orders of angels and other heavenly beings: "the heavenly hierarchy"

   Word Origin late Middle English: via Old French and medieval Latin from Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs ‘sacred ruler’ (see hierarch). The earliest sense was ‘system of orders of angels and heavenly beings’; the other senses date from the 17th century.

   Derivatives

   • 1. hierarchic adjective

   Scrabble Points: 20

   • H

     4

   • I

     1

   • E

     1

   • R

     1

   • A

     1

   • R

     1

   • C

     3

   • H

     4

   • Y

     4

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