hierarchical
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hierarchical
Explanation
If something is hierarchical it has clear levels of power and importance, such as a hierarchical corporation that has the boss at the top, or the hierarchical social order of junior high school popularity. It's lonely at the top. That pretty much sums up hierarchical, pronounced "high-eh-RAR-ki-cal." In a hierarchical structure, people or groups are arranged according to ability or status. It helps to think of a triangle, with the leader at the highest point, layers of managers under him or her, and at the base, or widest part, the masses of workers who make up the largest part of the organization.
Vocabulary lists containing hierarchical
Reading: Informational - High School
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Sapiens
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Guns, Germs, and Steel
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I had been under this societal understanding that hierarchical love, placing one partner above everything else, was the ultimate romantic expression. I could name hundreds of movies that brought that up,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
These include word order preferences, such as whether verbs come before or after objects, and hierarchical structures, such as how grammatical relationships are marked within sentences.
From Science Daily • Apr. 5, 2026
To Trump, who has rigidly hierarchical notions of gender, that probably seems emasculating.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
Officers and staff were required to declare membership "past or present" of any organisation that was "hierarchical, has confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other".
From BBC • Jan. 13, 2026
But this would provide only the economic and not the emotional basis for a hierarchical society.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
