top-down
Americanadjective
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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.
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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.
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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.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of top-down
First recorded in 1940–45; 1970–75 top-down for def. 3; adjective use of the adverb phrase “from the top down ”
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.
Tuchel's top-down approach differed greatly from Southgate's bottom-up approach, which partly explains Tuchel feeling Southgate's side lacked identity, clarity, rhythm or repeated patterns.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
The reporting of quarterly earnings, notes corporate finance expert Owen Lamont of Acadian Asset Management, was “a bottom-up historical phenomenon reflecting voluntary arrangements between firms and investors, not a top-down phenomenon imposed by law.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
They were also building out an empire, and that empire functioned by top-down tyrannical rule.
From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2026
But the larger lesson lies in how Fishtown made a comeback: not through a master plan or top-down government program, but by making private investment feasible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
The top-down goals become swamped, overwhelmed by the primitive bottom-up system aimed at warning us of opportunity or threat, playing to our deepest social needs.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
