top-down

[ top-doun ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

relating to, originating with, or directed by those of highest rank:
a centralized, top-down organization with a chain of command reporting up from every corner of the earth.
organized or proceeding from the larger, more general structure to smaller, more detailed units, as in processing information:
Top-down investing looks at the big picture, or how the overall economy drives the markets, and then focuses on individual stocks.
Computers. noting or relating to a methodology used in the design and coding of programs that takes a high-level description of a problem and successively breaks it into smaller and simpler subunits.

top-down

First recorded in 1940–45; 1970–75 top-down fordef 3; adjective use of the adverb phrase “from the top down ”

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