Hierarchical
/ˌhaɪəˈrɑːrkɪkl/adjective
Following an order where some things are above or more important than others.
The military has a very hierarchical structure from soldiers to generals.
Often appears as...
- hierarchical structure
- hierarchical system
adjective
Involving or arranging things in order of their importance or according to their stage of development.
A hierarchical database organizes data in a tree structure with a single root.
Often appears as...
- hierarchical database
- hierarchical model
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Relating to the organization of people or things into different levels of importance or development.
In the hierarchical classification of organisms, humans belong to the Animalia kingdom.
Often appears as...
- hierarchical classification
- hierarchical organization
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Following an order where some things are above or more important than others.
The military has a very hierarchical structure from soldiers to generals.
Often appears as...
- hierarchical structure
- hierarchical system
adjective
Involving or arranging things in order of their importance or according to their stage of development.
A hierarchical database organizes data in a tree structure with a single root.
Often appears as...
- hierarchical database
- hierarchical model
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Relating to the organization of people or things into different levels of importance or development.
In the hierarchical classification of organisms, humans belong to the Animalia kingdom.
Often appears as...
- hierarchical classification
- hierarchical organization
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Indicates a power relationship, with levels from low to high status within an organization.
Employees in a hierarchical corporation follow a clear chain of command.
Pro Tip 2/3Rigid Structure
The structure is often rigid, with strict rules on roles and responsibilities.
In a hierarchical organization, you must report to your immediate supervisor.
Pro Tip 3/3Social Distances
Reflects social distances between different layers of authority or status.
In a hierarchical society, interaction between social classes might be infrequent.
Compare with
cascadegradegraduatelevelorganizepyramidrankingstructure
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Video examples
Hanna Rosin: New data on...
You would be very hierarchical. You would tell everyone below you what to do. But that's not what an ideal leader is like now. If you read management books now, a leader is somebody who can foster creativity, who can get his -- get the employees -- see, I still say "his" -- who can get the employees to talk to each other,
Video examples
The crisis of leadership...
And we need to release that leader inside and actually start making the positive impact this world is calling for right now. But we have such hierarchical leadership. I mean, I understand what you're saying -- it's nice to release the leader inside -- but in these corporations, the truth is, it's extremely hierarchical.
Video examples
Rethinking manufacturing...
to print and paper or to print and water to print in plastic or to print in metal so you have a very different networking structure very different hierarchical structure with the new technology coming in and then you add the third thing which is robots so the stuff that rod Brooks is doing is incredibly important
Video examples
Enric Sala: Glimpses of...
when it comes to regulating or closing an area, even if it's small. Second, the governance is not right because most coastal communities around the world don't have the authority to monitor the resources to create the reserve and enforce it. It's a top down hierarchical structure
Video examples
What a nun can teach a...
that these delicate but really important relationships can have. And I think the reason that it stuck with me as well is because it's not common. And one of the reasons it's not common is because our traditional approach of the hierarchical system of academic achievement
Video examples
Why do whales sing? -...
Units, like moans, cries, and chirps are arranged in phrases. Repeated phrases are assembled into themes. Multiple themes repeated in a predictable pattern create a song. This hierarchical structure is a kind of grammar. Whale songs are extremely variable in duration,
Video examples
Lee Smolin: How science...
was Aristotelian science, and that was hierarchical. The earth is in the center, then there are these crystal spheres, the sun, the moon, the planets and finally the celestial sphere, where the stars are. And everything in this universe has a place.
Video examples
The revolutionary power...
this hierarchical geography was shattered to pieces. Our world no longer follows this dualistic pattern in the scholar's mind, if it ever did. Now we know that history does not necessarily move forward. Sometimes it draws circles,
Video examples
Killer whale society PIPE...
cooperation coordination collaboration killer whales are highly social species who exhibit complex group interactions with in hierarchical dominant systems that is to say they work together to rear their young to protect their pod
Video examples
The Creativity and...
as well as helping students learn from it. If this work grew burdensome for teachers, hierarchical moderation could help, which is a system where members themselves can report negative
Video examples
Hanna Rosin: New data on...
You would be very hierarchical. You would tell everyone below you what to do. But that's not what an ideal leader is like now. If you read management books now, a leader is somebody who can foster creativity, who can get his -- get the employees -- see, I still say "his" -- who can get the employees to talk to each other,
Video examples
The crisis of leadership...
And we need to release that leader inside and actually start making the positive impact this world is calling for right now. But we have such hierarchical leadership. I mean, I understand what you're saying -- it's nice to release the leader inside -- but in these corporations, the truth is, it's extremely hierarchical.
Video examples
Rethinking manufacturing...
to print and paper or to print and water to print in plastic or to print in metal so you have a very different networking structure very different hierarchical structure with the new technology coming in and then you add the third thing which is robots so the stuff that rod Brooks is doing is incredibly important
Video examples
Enric Sala: Glimpses of...
when it comes to regulating or closing an area, even if it's small. Second, the governance is not right because most coastal communities around the world don't have the authority to monitor the resources to create the reserve and enforce it. It's a top down hierarchical structure
Video examples
What a nun can teach a...
that these delicate but really important relationships can have. And I think the reason that it stuck with me as well is because it's not common. And one of the reasons it's not common is because our traditional approach of the hierarchical system of academic achievement
Video examples
Why do whales sing? -...
Units, like moans, cries, and chirps are arranged in phrases. Repeated phrases are assembled into themes. Multiple themes repeated in a predictable pattern create a song. This hierarchical structure is a kind of grammar. Whale songs are extremely variable in duration,
Video examples
Lee Smolin: How science...
was Aristotelian science, and that was hierarchical. The earth is in the center, then there are these crystal spheres, the sun, the moon, the planets and finally the celestial sphere, where the stars are. And everything in this universe has a place.
Video examples
The revolutionary power...
this hierarchical geography was shattered to pieces. Our world no longer follows this dualistic pattern in the scholar's mind, if it ever did. Now we know that history does not necessarily move forward. Sometimes it draws circles,
Video examples
Killer whale society PIPE...
cooperation coordination collaboration killer whales are highly social species who exhibit complex group interactions with in hierarchical dominant systems that is to say they work together to rear their young to protect their pod
Video examples
The Creativity and...
as well as helping students learn from it. If this work grew burdensome for teachers, hierarchical moderation could help, which is a system where members themselves can report negative
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Mitch Kapor
American Businessman
Life in cyberspace is often conducted in primitive frontier conditions, but it is a life which, at its best, is more egalitarian than elitist and more decentralized than hierarchical. It serves individuals and communities, not mass audiences, and it is extraordinarily multi-faceted in the purposes to which it is put.
Quote examples
Bill Gurley
American Businessman
Most firms are hierarchical in nature, with everyone getting different slices of the economic pie. The problem is those slices are negotiated every time a firm raises a new fund, so in between funds, which is most of the time, the partners are trying to outgun one another to make a stronger case for themselves.
Quote examples
Frans de Waal
Dutch Scientist
Following rules is, of course, the reason the dog is man's best friend is because the dog follows rules, and they actually do experiments on that, is that how well certain breeds of dogs follow rules, and how much they internalize them. And so many hierarchical animals, obviously they follow rules.
Quote examples
Octavia E. Butler
American Writer
Simple peck-order bullying is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world.
Quote examples
Friedrich August von Hayek
Austrian Economist
Even the striving for equality by means of a directed economy can result only in an officially enforced inequality - an authoritarian determination of the status of each individual in the new hierarchical order.
Quote examples
Ingmar Bergman
Swedish Director
Life wasn't about freeing up human souls. It was about creating obedient slaves in the hierarchical construction of the society - with God at the top, then the king and then the father.
Quote examples
Eugene Kennedy
American Psychologist
As dutiful bishops soon discover, authoritarianism, or control from the top down, characterizes the hierarchical tradition.
Quote examples
Martin Fleischmann
English Scientist
American science is much more organized, much more hierarchical than British science has been.
Quote examples
Robert Shea
American Author
The Gnostics were rapidly driven out of business by the hierarchical orthodox Christians.
Quote examples
James Salter
American Novelist
I like aristocracy. I like the beauty of aristocracy. I like the hierarchical feeling.
Quote examples
Mitch Kapor
American Businessman
Life in cyberspace is often conducted in primitive frontier conditions, but it is a life which, at its best, is more egalitarian than elitist and more decentralized than hierarchical. It serves individuals and communities, not mass audiences, and it is extraordinarily multi-faceted in the purposes to which it is put.
Quote examples
Bill Gurley
American Businessman
Most firms are hierarchical in nature, with everyone getting different slices of the economic pie. The problem is those slices are negotiated every time a firm raises a new fund, so in between funds, which is most of the time, the partners are trying to outgun one another to make a stronger case for themselves.
Quote examples
Frans de Waal
Dutch Scientist
Following rules is, of course, the reason the dog is man's best friend is because the dog follows rules, and they actually do experiments on that, is that how well certain breeds of dogs follow rules, and how much they internalize them. And so many hierarchical animals, obviously they follow rules.
Quote examples
Octavia E. Butler
American Writer
Simple peck-order bullying is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world.
Quote examples
Friedrich August von Hayek
Austrian Economist
Even the striving for equality by means of a directed economy can result only in an officially enforced inequality - an authoritarian determination of the status of each individual in the new hierarchical order.
Quote examples
Ingmar Bergman
Swedish Director
Life wasn't about freeing up human souls. It was about creating obedient slaves in the hierarchical construction of the society - with God at the top, then the king and then the father.
Quote examples
Eugene Kennedy
American Psychologist
As dutiful bishops soon discover, authoritarianism, or control from the top down, characterizes the hierarchical tradition.
Quote examples
Martin Fleischmann
English Scientist
American science is much more organized, much more hierarchical than British science has been.
Quote examples
Robert Shea
American Author
The Gnostics were rapidly driven out of business by the hierarchical orthodox Christians.
Quote examples
James Salter
American Novelist
I like aristocracy. I like the beauty of aristocracy. I like the hierarchical feeling.
Example 1 of 10
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