classified according to various criteria into successive levels or layers; "it has been said that only a hierarchical society with a leisure class at the top can produce works of art"; "in her hierarchical set of values honesty comes first"
() Late Latin hierarcha, Greek ἱεράρχης, hierarchēs; sacred (akin to Sanskrit ishiras vigorous, fresh, blooming) + leader, ruler, from to lead, rule: compare French hiérarque