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

PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp said the Tour will double signature events, creating an upper echelon with about 120 players and a cut.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026

Newsom is eventually taken under Getty’s wing, where he’s introduced into a new echelon of society and politics.

From Slate • Feb. 25, 2026

Robert Duvall earned seven Oscar nominations over the course of his celebrated career, the last for the 2014 legal drama “The Judge,” a movie no one would have in the upper echelon of his filmography.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026

"It demands a second and even third echelon; personnel, platforms and logistics chains that can absorb losses and continue the fight. Yet this depth is notably absent from current British force design."

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2025

But it was the point of an echelon attack.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara