stratify

American  

[strat-uh-fahy] / ˈstræt əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

stratified, stratifying

1. to form or place in strata or layers.

2. to preserve or germinate (seeds) by placing them between layers of earth.

3. Sociology. to arrange in a hierarchical order, especially according to graded status levels.

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verb (used without object)

stratified, stratifying

1. to form strata.

2. Geology. to lie in beds or layers.

3. Sociology. to develop hierarchically, especially as graded status levels.

stratify British  

/ ˈstrætɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to form or be formed in layers or strata

2. (tr) to preserve or render fertile (seeds) by storing between layers of sand or earth

3. sociol to divide (a society) into horizontal status groups or (of a society) to develop such groups

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Other Word Forms

• de-stratify verb (used with object)
• multistratified adjective
• nonstratified adjective
• semistratified adjective
• stratified adjective

Etymology

Origin of stratify

1655–65; modeled on New Latin strātificāre, equivalent to strāti- strati- + -ficāre -fy

Explanation

Stratify means to divide into layers or classes. Announcing pay raises for only half of the employees in a company would be a quick way to stratify the office. Stratify is often used in the context of geology, when materials in the earth’s crust stratify, or form layers. This phenomenon serves as an apt metaphor for other uses of the word, particularly as it's applied to social situations. If you attend a party for geologists and notice that the mineralogists are ignoring the petrologists (and the vulcanologist didn’t even bother to show up), you might conclude that something has caused this group of geologists to stratify.

Example Sentences

Companies across the board are facing a misalignment between the way traditional corporate org charts stratify skills and getting the most out of AI.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025

And the most recent study found that certain blood biomarkers may help researchers stratify patients for different treatments.

From Salon • Jan. 3, 2025

The researchers envision a future when the germline genome is used to further stratify the 11 breast cancer subtypes identified by Curtis to guide treatment decisions and improve prognoses and monitoring for recurrence.

From Science Daily • May 30, 2024

But selling verification and higher visibility would "stratify" Twitter.

From BBC • Nov. 3, 2022

But already the Mississippi Valley was beginning to stratify, both socially and geographically.

From The Frontier in American History by Turner, Frederick Jackson