{
    "term": "hierarchy",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a system, especially in a society or an organization, in which people are organized into different levels of importance from highest to lowest",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the **social/political hierarchy**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She's quite high up in the management hierarchy."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He joined the party in 1966 and quickly moved up the hierarchy."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She is above me in the hierarchy."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There was a clear hierarchy of power in the company."
                },
                {
                    "text": "At the bottom of the corporate hierarchy are part-time low-paid workers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "In many large families there is a hierarchy of age, with the older siblings having more status."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Why does there need to be such a strict hierarchy within the church?"
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["complex", "rigid", "strict"],
                "verb + hierarchy": ["create", "develop", "establish"],
                "hierarchy + verb": ["be based on something"],
                "preposition": [
                    "in a/​the hierarchy",
                    "within a/​the hierarchy",
                    "hierarchy of"
                ],
                "phrases": ["somebody’s level, position, status, etc. in a hierarchy"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "the group of people in control of a large organization or institution",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "It was on orders from the party hierarchy that she dropped the investigation."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The hierarchy has/have remained silent on this issue."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["complex", "rigid", "strict"],
                "verb + hierarchy": ["create", "develop", "establish"],
                "hierarchy + verb": ["be based on something"],
                "preposition": [
                    "in a/​the hierarchy",
                    "within a/​the hierarchy",
                    "hierarchy of"
                ],
                "phrases": ["somebody’s level, position, status, etc. in a hierarchy"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "a system that ideas or beliefs can be arranged into according to their importance",
            "labels": "(formal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a hierarchy of needs"
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhaɪərɑːki/",
                "audio": "hi/hierarchy/hierarchy__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhaɪərɑːrki/",
                "audio": "hi/hierarchy/hierarchy__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English: via Old French and medieval Latin from Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs ‘sacred ruler’, from hieros ‘sacred’ + arkhēs ‘ruler’. The earliest sense was ‘system of orders of angels and heavenly beings’; the other senses date from the 17th cent."
}