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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)
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