echelon

American  

[esh-uh-lon] / ˈɛʃ əˌlɒn /

noun

1. a level of command, authority, or rank.

   After years of service, she is now in the upper echelon of city officials.

   Synonyms:

   standing, class, position, rung, tier, row, office, grade, authority, hierarchy, rank, place

2. a level of worthiness, achievement, or reputation.

   studying hard to get into one of the top echelon colleges.

   Synonyms:

   tier, position, degree

3. Military. a formation of troops, ships, airplanes, etc., in which groups of soldiers or individual vehicles or craft are arranged in parallel lines, either with each line extending to the right of the one in front right echelon or with each line extending to the left of the one in front left echelon, so that the whole presents the appearance of steps.

4. Military. one of the groups of a formation so arranged.

5. Archaic. any structure or group of structures arranged in a steplike form.

6. Also called echelon grating.  Spectroscopy. a diffraction grating that is used in the resolution of fine structure lines and consists of a series of plates of equal thickness stacked in staircase fashion.

---

verb (used with or without object)

1. to form in an echelon.

echelon British  

/ ˈɛʃəˌlɒn /

noun

1. a level of command, responsibility, etc (esp in the phrase the upper echelons )

2. military

   1. a formation in which units follow one another but are offset sufficiently to allow each unit a line of fire ahead

   2. a group formed in this way

3. physics a type of diffraction grating used in spectroscopy consisting of a series of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset

---

verb

1. to assemble in echelon

Pop Culture

—Row echelon form: In linear algebra, a simplified form of a matrix in which each non-zero row has more leading zeros than the previous row. —ECHELON: Code name of a global surveillance system developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). It operates by intercepting and processing international communications transmitted via communications satellites. —Third Echelon: A fictional sub-group of the NSA created by Tom Clancy in his Splinter Cell book series.

Other Word Forms

• echelonment noun

Etymology

Origin of echelon

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French échelon, originally “rung of a ladder,” from Old French eschelon, equivalent to esch(i)ele “ladder” (from Latin scāla + -on noun suffix; scale ³ )

Example Sentences

"On-pitch performance remains a primary driver for clubs to progress to the upper echelons of the ranking, with many clubs benefiting from new and expanded European and international club tournaments," said Bridge.

From BBC

"The Bears' slow starts are going to come back to bite them, especially against the upper echelon teams - and the Rams are certainly one of those, " said Dragon.

From BBC

Their current recruitment strategy involves players from lower echelons compared with the superstar signings that accompanied their entrance into the pro golf market.

From BBC

Bencic was ranked 421 at the start of the 2025 season, but making the last 16 at the Australian Open a year ago convinced her she could return to the upper echelons of tennis.

From Barron's

Berezovsky may have exaggerated his role, but Russia's oligarchs were certainly capable of pulling strings at the highest echelons of power.

From BBC