hierarchy

hierarchy is a   Noun

Definition:

[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.

Synonyms: