low-level
Americanadjective
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undertaken by or composed of members having a low status.
a low-level discussion.
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having low status.
low-level personnel.
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undertaken at or from a low altitude.
low-level bombing.
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Linguistics. occurring or operating at the phonetic level of linguistic representation or analysis.
low-level rules governing assimilation.
Etymology
Origin of low-level
First recorded in 1880–85
Explanation
Someone who's described as being low-level has very little authority in their job or position. A low-level employee at the F.B.I. might be the person who answers the phone, or who cleans people's offices at the end of the day. A low-level police officer's job might involve giving speeding tickets, rather than investigating murders, and a low-level librarian might be stuck shelving books, instead of ordering new ones or archiving historical manuscripts. Another meaning of low-level is physically low, or at a low altitude: "I feel like I could almost touch that low-level cloud."
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.
Since then, Iraqi forces have fought Islamic State remnants engaged in a low-level insurgency around the country’s remote areas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
This persistent, low-level immune activity has been associated with several diseases, including cancer and diabetes, and researchers increasingly suspect that it may also play an important role in heart disease.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
Many women are running on autopilot, she adds, so they often don't realise the extent of the cognitive load they're carrying, and this constant low-level stress can have an effect on the nervous system.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
In 2008, he was a low-level defensive assistant at Oklahoma State.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
You feel it coming on halfway through a shift or later, and you can interpret it the normal way as a symptom of a kind of low-level illness, curable with immediate rest.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
