top-down

[top-doun]

adjective

1. relating to, originating with, or directed by those of highest rank.

   a centralized, top-down organization with a chain of command reporting up from every corner of the earth.

2. organized or proceeding from the larger, more general structure to smaller, more detailed units, as in processing information.

   Top-down investing looks at the big picture, or how the overall economy drives the markets, and then focuses on individual stocks.

3. Computers.,  noting or relating to a methodology used in the design and coding of programs that takes a high-level description of a problem and successively breaks it into smaller and simpler subunits.

top-down

adjective

1. controlled, directed, or organized from the top

Word History and Origins

Origin of top-down¹

First recorded in 1940–45; 1970–75 top-down for def. 3; adjective use of the adverb phrase “from the top down ”

Example Sentences

For a top-down macro perspective, the chart below shows rotation analysis of selected asset classes against a U.S.

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One source described the prime minister as a "top-down ivory tower leader" – a common refrain from some Labour politicians who think Sir Keir lacks a proper grasp.

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Another said the prime minister is a "top-down ivory tower leader" who is late to react to early warning signs like Caerphilly.

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But it will be difficult, he says, to “beat China at their own game where the system is set up for big top-down objectives, incentives are aligned, there are no elections, and policy is consistent.”

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Mr. Easterly is not a friend of rich-world technocrats or top-down dispensers of aid and omniscience who frequently fail to consult the very people—the Third World poor—for whose salvation they get paid handsomely.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal