hierarchical

[ hahy-uh-rahr-ki-kuh l, hahy-rahr- ]

/ ˌhaɪ əˈrɑr kɪ kəl, haɪˈrɑr- /

of, belonging to, or characteristic of a hierarchy.

Also hi·er·ar·chic.

Origin of hierarchical

1425–75; late Middle English. See hierarch, -ical

hi·er·ar·chi·cal·ly, adverb an·ti·hi·er·ar·chic, adjective an·ti·hi·er·ar·chi·cal, adjective an·ti·hi·er·ar·chi·cal·ly, adverb

non·hi·er·ar·chic, adjective non·hi·er·ar·chi·cal, adjective non·hi·er·ar·chi·cal·ly, adverb

One road leads to freedom, sharing, and equality; the other to endless spying, a hierarchical structure, and repression.

How Four Upstarts Built and Crashed the Anti-Facebook |Jake Whitney |November 12, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
She said Mars Hill “engages in heavy-handed discipline through a hierarchical structure.”

Another Mega Church Implodes |Warren Throckmorton |September 14, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
According to the hierarchical model of galaxy formation, the first galaxies were built out of smaller collections of matter.

Some of the First Galaxies Were Big Babies |Matthew R. Francis |September 14, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It is least accepted when it is cold, challenging, and hierarchical: in other words, paternal - or in other other words, military.

The Truth About Women in Combat |David Frum |March 1, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

She explained that in Rome, they are more accustomed to the hierarchical politics.

Nuns React Differently to Vatican’s Condemnation |Barbie Latza Nadeau, Jesse Ellison |June 8, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
The process of relating is typically illustrated in a hierarchical fashion.

Nursing as Caring |Anne Boykin
"No—hierarchical principles," insinuated Peter, with a smile intended to convey the utmost amount of indulgence.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 423, January 1851 |Various
The social structure of the Middle Ages accordingly assumed the hierarchical form which we speak of as the Feudal system.

Liberalism |L. T. Hobhouse
But the following facts must not be overlooked:—First, the new conception of the Church was not yet a hierarchical one.

History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7) |Adolph Harnack
Employments fall into a hierarchical gradation of reputability.

The Theory of the Leisure Class |Thorstein Veblen