top-down

[ top-doun ]

adjective

1. relating to, originating with, or directed by those of highest rank:

   a centralized, top-down organization with a chain of command reporting up from every corner of the earth.

2. organized or proceeding from the larger, more general structure to smaller, more detailed units, as in processing information:

   Top-down investing looks at the big picture, or how the overall economy drives the markets, and then focuses on individual stocks.

3. Computers. noting or relating to a methodology used in the design and coding of programs that takes a high-level description of a problem and successively breaks it into smaller and simpler subunits.

top-down

adjective

1. controlled, directed, or organized from the top

Word History and Origins

Origin of top-down¹

First recorded in 1940–45; 1970–75 top-down fordef 3; adjective use of the adverb phrase “from the top down ”

Example Sentences

As dependency on D.C. wells from the bottom up, it grows ever more fashionable from the top down.

From The Daily Beast

We need to challenge this top-down decree that all web connections should, by default, be child-friendly.

From The Daily Beast

The lack of available candidates is a bottom-up problem, and not necessarily a top-down problem.

From The Daily Beast

What was once a far more hierarchical, top-down, and force-fed relationship is much flatter and more voluntary.

From The Daily Beast

These top-down schemes need city-size investment, and the citizen does not need to worry about the consequences, we are told.

From The Daily Beast

Wheel-spokes whirred in the air and he saw a buggy, with the top down, rattling down another street in a cloud of dust.

From Project Gutenberg

This is a 1956 Cadillac, four-door touring car with the top down.

From Project Gutenberg

Did you notice anything else on the building as you scanned it from the top down, or from the bottom up?

From Project Gutenberg

This makes a neat lining and then I just pour in the nuts and fold the top down.

From Project Gutenberg

Carlisle, choking over the inflammatory draught, set the silver top down on the bureau.

From Project Gutenberg