variants
also peck order
as in hierarchy
the way in which people or things in a group or organization are placed in a series of levels with different importance or status
As an assistant manager, he was pretty low in the company's pecking order.
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Recent Examples of pecking order
Sometimes, the Senate Majority Leader is in the pecking order.
—
Philip Elliott, Time, 25 June 2025
No final roster decisions are made during OTAs, but there was valuable insight about the pecking order throughout the Las Vegas Raiders’ roster.
—Tashan Reed, New York Times, 20 June 2025
But while fashion’s presence in fine art is well established, its move into design—historically more niche and less headline-worthy—signals a shift in the aesthete’s pecking order.
—Air Mail, 12 Apr. 2025
Over the next decade, the spirit remained mostly a curiosity—far down the pecking order of Americans’ drink preferences.
—Time, 4 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pecking order
Philip Elliott, Time, 25 June 2025
No final roster decisions are made during OTAs, but there was valuable insight about the pecking order throughout the Las Vegas Raiders’ roster.
—Tashan Reed, New York Times, 20 June 2025
But while fashion’s presence in fine art is well established, its move into design—historically more niche and less headline-worthy—signals a shift in the aesthete’s pecking order.
—Air Mail, 12 Apr. 2025
Over the next decade, the spirit remained mostly a curiosity—far down the pecking order of Americans’ drink preferences.
—Time, 4 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pecking order
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pecking order
Noun
-
But, on balance, making the semi-finals backed the club hierarchy’s insistence for Alonso to be in place as coach for the tournament.—
Dermot Corrigan,
New York Times,
11 July 2025
-
Maclaren noted that the Babble Effect tends to show up most strongly in unstructured environments without formal hierarchies.—
Vibhas Ratanjee,
Forbes.com,
11 July 2025
Noun
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Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images Recently, a new all-time ranking was revealed by Bleacher Report.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 July 2025
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Chinese universities have risen steadily in global rankings, with 15 schools in mainland China and Hong Kong listed among the top 100 universities on the 2025-2026 Best Global Universities Rankings, compiled by U.S. News and World Report.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
15 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pecking order.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pecking%20order. Accessed 20 Jul. 2025.
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