Synonyms

stratify

American

[strat-uh-fahy] / ˈstræt əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

to form or place in strata or layers.
to preserve or germinate (seeds) by placing them between layers of earth.
Sociology. to arrange in a hierarchical order, especially according to graded status levels.

verb (used without object)

to form strata.
Geology. to lie in beds or layers.
Sociology. to develop hierarchically, especially as graded status levels.

stratify British

/ ˈstrætɪˌfaɪ /

verb

to form or be formed in layers or strata
(tr) to preserve or render fertile (seeds) by storing between layers of sand or earth
sociol to divide (a society) into horizontal status groups or (of a society) to develop such groups

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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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.

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Vocabulary lists containing stratify

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

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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.

See Examples For:

stratify stratifies stratified stratifying

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

"Aside from potentially predicting future psychosis onset, biomarkers could also help stratify patients into clinically meaningful subgroups and suggest new options for treatment or intervention."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024

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

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2022

When information is purveyed in chunks simply as information to be retained for its own sake, it tends to stratify over vital experience.

From Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education by John Dewey

The textbook view of the oceans stratifies them into layers according to depth.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 20, 2022

During the summer months, the lake water stratifies, or forms layers, with the warmest water at the lake surface.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

Because education increasingly stratifies society, so it should diligently transmit commonalities conducive to social cohesion.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2017

During the summer months, the lake water stratifies, or forms layers of temperature, with the warmest water at the lake surface.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Ah, the brain stratifies and matures, even in the pauses of the pen.

From Life and Letters of Robert Browning by Robert Browning

The TV landscape, he says, is becoming as stratified as the experience of going to a game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

This was a “deeply stratified society” only 500 years ago, Malešević said.

From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2026

Here’s a visual representation of how spending has been stratified among economic classes in recent years.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026

I think what’s bothered me about romance is that people have these stratified steps and a playbook and rules.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025

Although Hopewell villages were as small as those of their more egalitarian neighbors, they were stratified, with priesdy rulers controlling the rest of the populace.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Even for those whose work allows unpaid leave to heal from loss, the lack of income disproportionately affects those living in financial precarity, effectively stratifying the grief process.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2019

Aside from stratifying patients by their expected progression rate, clinical researchers would also like to know whether there are different subtypes of ALS, caused by different molecular pathways that might provide targets for drugs.

From Nature ● Oct. 17, 2017

Companies that used to have only red are branching out; companies that used to specialize in variety are stratifying.

From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2015

Blame the party-by-committee phenomenon on the skyrocketing cost of night life, and the stratifying effects of social media.

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2014

It might be a good idea, in stratifying chestnuts in the box with wire mesh on the bottom, to place the box at an angle that would drain off at least part of the water.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting New York City, September 3, 4 and 5, 1924 by Northern Nut Growers Association

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023