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hierarchy |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.01 sec. |
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A group of people who form an ascending chain of power or authority. Officers in a government, for example, form an escalating series of ranks or degrees of power, with each rank subject to the authority of the one on the next level above. In a majority of hierarchical arrangements, there are a larger number of people at the bottom than at the top. Originally, the term was used to mean government by a body of priests. Currently, a hierarchy is used to denote any body of individuals arranged or classified according to capacity, authority, position, or rank. hierarchy (Arrangement in a series), noun categorization, chain, classification, collocation, gradation, grouping, order, order of succession, range, run, seriation, series, succession, system hierarchy (Persons in authority), noun authorities, bureaucracy, commanders, controllers, dictators, directors, government, heads, leadership power, management, managers, masters, officials, persons in power, powers, regency, regime, rulers, sovereignty See also: class HIERARCHY, eccl. law. A hierarchy signified, originally, power of the priest; for in the beginning of societies, the priests were entrusted with all the power but, among the priests themselves, there were different degrees of power and authority, at the summit of which was the sovereign pontiff, and this was called the hierarchy. Now it signifies, not so much the power of the priests as the border of power. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| Derived from a patient and recurring naming of the ephemeral but valued objects that surround him, Brauntuch's work--a visual litany of the things he knows--demands attentiveness despite its disinclination to hierarchize subject matter. In contrast to Western literature, American Indian literature does not focus on the resolution of the conflict, nor does it revolve around a central character or hero, which would tend to hierarchize events in the literature. Our feminism recognizes the interconnectedness among race, class, gender, and sexuality and refuses to hierarchize oppression or to fragment identities. |
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