4 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hierarchy \Hi"er*arch'y\ (h[imac]"[~e]r*[aum]rk'[y^]), noun; pl.
{Hierarchies} (h[imac]"[~e]r*[aum]rk'[i^]z). [Gr.
'ierarchi'a: cf. F. hi['e]rarchie.]
1. Dominion or authority in sacred things.
2. A body of officials disposed organically in ranks and
orders each subordinate to the one above it; a body of
ecclesiastical rulers.
3. A form of government administered in the church by
patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and, in
an inferior degree, by priests. --Shipley.
4. A rank or order of holy beings.
Standards and gonfalons . . . for distinction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees. --Milton.
5. (Math., Logic, Computers) Any group of objects ranked so
that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a
specified one above it; also, the entire set of ordering
relations between such objects. The ordering relation
between each object and the one above is called a
hierarchical relation.
Note: Classification schemes, as in biology, usually form
hierarchies.
[PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
hierarchy
noun
1: a series of ordered groupings of people or things within a
system; "put honesty first in her hierarchy of values"
2: the organization of people at different ranks in an
administrative body [syn: {power structure}, {pecking
order}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
193 Moby Thesaurus words for "hierarchy":
absolute monarchy, aedileship, animal kingdom, archbishopric,
archiepiscopacy, archiepiscopate, aristocracy, autarchy, autocracy,
autonomy, bishopric, bureaucracy, caste, chain of being,
chairmanship, chancellery, chancellorate, chancellorship, chiefery,
chiefry, chieftaincy, chieftainry, chieftainship, class,
class structure, coalition government, colonialism, commonwealth,
condition, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy,
consulate, consulship, continuity, deanery, degree, democracy,
dictatorship, dictature, directorate, directorship, domain,
dominion rule, duarchy, duumvirate, dyarchy, echelon, emirate,
episcopacy, establishment, federal government, federation,
feudal system, footing, garrison state, gerontocracy, governorship,
gradation, headship, hegemony, heteronomy, hierocracy,
higher echelons, higher-ups, home rule, kingdom, leadership,
limited monarchy, lordship, magistracy, magistrateship,
magistrature, management, martial law, masterdom, mastership,
mastery, mayoralty, mayorship, meritocracy, metropolitanate,
metropolitanship, militarism, military government, mineral kingdom,
ministry, mob rule, mobocracy, monarchy, natural hierarchy,
neocolonialism, nobility, ochlocracy, officialdom, oligarchy,
order, pantisocracy, papacy, pashadom, pashalic, patriarchate,
patriarchy, pecking order, place, police state, pontificality,
pontificate, popedom, popehood, popeship, position,
power structure, precedence, prefectship, prefecture, prelacy,
premiership, presidency, presidentship, prime-ministership,
prime-ministry, princedom, princeship, principality, proconsulate,
proconsulship, protectorate, protectorship, provostry, provostship,
pure democracy, pyramid, rank, rate, rating, realm, rectorate,
rectorship, regency, regentship, representative democracy,
representative government, republic, ruling class, ruling classes,
seigniory, self-determination, self-government, seneschalship,
seneschalsy, sequence, serial order, sheikhdom, sheriffalty,
sheriffcy, sheriffdom, shrievalty, social democracy, sphere, stage,
standing, station, status, stratocracy, subordination,
supervisorship, suzerainship, suzerainty, technocracy,
the Establishment, the administration, the authorities,
the ingroup, the interests, the people upstairs, the power elite,
the power structure, the top, thearchy, them, theocracy, they,
top brass, totalitarian government, totalitarian regime, triarchy,
tribunate, triumvirate, tyranny, vegetable kingdom, vizierate,
viziership, welfare state
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
hierarchy
An organisation with few things, or one thing, at the top and
with several things below each other thing. An inverted tree
structure. Examples in computing include a directory
hierarchy where each directory may contain files or other
directories; a hierarchical {network} (see {hierarchical
routing}), a {class hierarchy} in {object-oriented
programming}.
(1994-10-11)