echelon
Use Echelon in a sentence
əˌlɒn noun
1.
a level of command, authority, or rank: After years of service, she is now in the upper echelon of city officials. Synonyms: place, rank, hierarchy, authority, grade, office; row, tier, rung; social standing, position, class, standing.
2.
a level of worthiness, achievement, or reputation: studying hard to get into one of the top echelon colleges. Synonyms: degree, position, tier.
3.
Military. a formation of troops, ships, airplanes, etc., in which groups of soldiers or individual vehicles or craft are arranged in parallel lines, either with each line extending to the right of the one in front (right echelon) or with each line extending to the left of the one in front (left echelon) so that the whole presents the appearance of steps.
4.
Military. one of the groups of a formation so arranged.
5.
Archaic. any structure or group of structures arranged in a steplike form.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
7.
to form in an echelon.
00:10
Echelon
is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
Origin:
1790–1800; < French échelon, orig. rung of a ladder, Old French eschelon, equivalent to esch(i)ele ladder (< Latin scāla; see scale3) + -on noun suffix
1790–1800; < French échelon, orig. rung of a ladder, Old French eschelon, equivalent to esch(i)ele ladder (< Latin scāla; see scale3) + -on noun suffix
Related forms
ech·e·lon·ment, noun
Word story
Echelon comes from the French échelon, a word whose literal meaning is “rung of a ladder.” Initially it was confined to military use, to refer to a step-like formation of troops.
Ironically, while echelon entered English in a military context, it was the first and second World Wars that extended the meaning to other, nonmilitary, sectors. During World War I, the term took on a more generalized sense of a “level” or “subdivision”; World War II broadened echelon’s usage to describe grades and ranks in professions outside the military.
At the same time, English speakers started using echelon to classify institutions or persons they held in high esteem by referring to them as part of the “upper” or “top” echelon. With this in mind, the phrase “social climber” conjures up the image of people who wish to ascend through the various ladder rungs of society until they reach the top.
Echelon comes from the French échelon, a word whose literal meaning is “rung of a ladder.” Initially it was confined to military use, to refer to a step-like formation of troops.
Ironically, while echelon entered English in a military context, it was the first and second World Wars that extended the meaning to other, nonmilitary, sectors. During World War I, the term took on a more generalized sense of a “level” or “subdivision”; World War II broadened echelon’s usage to describe grades and ranks in professions outside the military.
At the same time, English speakers started using echelon to classify institutions or persons they held in high esteem by referring to them as part of the “upper” or “top” echelon. With this in mind, the phrase “social climber” conjures up the image of people who wish to ascend through the various ladder rungs of society until they reach the top.
Popular references
—Row echelon form: In linear algebra, a simplified form of a matrix in which each non-zero row has more leading zeros than the previous row.
—ECHELON: Code name of a global surveillance system developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). It operates by intercepting and processing international communications transmitted via communications satellites.
—Third Echelon: A fictional sub-group of the NSA created by Tom Clancy in his Splinter Cell book series.
—Row echelon form: In linear algebra, a simplified form of a matrix in which each non-zero row has more leading zeros than the previous row.
—ECHELON: Code name of a global surveillance system developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). It operates by intercepting and processing international communications transmitted via communications satellites.
—Third Echelon: A fictional sub-group of the NSA created by Tom Clancy in his Splinter Cell book series.
Related Quotations
“Beyond [the city] were the suburban homes of laborers and low-echelon executives who had carved brass-knuckled niches for themselves in the medium-income bracket.“
—Irving E. Cox, Jr., The Cartels Jungle (1955)
—Irving E. Cox, Jr., The Cartels Jungle (1955)
“If a CEO wavers and shows signs of not being confident of which way he wants to go, it sends shudders from the top echelon all the way down the mountain.“
—D. A. Benton, How to think like a CEO (2000)
—D. A. Benton, How to think like a CEO (2000)
“[I]t is a monstrous leap from what [a master] can do to what the elite grandmasters (the Fischers and the Karpovs and the Kasparovs) can do, which is why even the top echelon of players often maintain a base of humility beneath their bluster.“
—Michael Weinreb, Game of Kings: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America's Top High School Chess Team (2007)
—Michael Weinreb, Game of Kings: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America's Top High School Chess Team (2007)
“By echelon we mean a formation in which the subdivisions are placed one behind another, extending beyond and unmasking one another either wholly or in part.“
—James Alfred Moss, Manual of Military Training (1914)
—James Alfred Moss, Manual of Military Training (1914)
“[T]hey echeloned to the right around the hill, and the 1st Platoon fired into their flank for ten to fifteen minutes; however, they never slacked or broke formation.“
—William T. Bowers, The Line: Combat In Korea, January–February 1951, Volume 1 (2008)
—William T. Bowers, The Line: Combat In Korea, January–February 1951, Volume 1 (2008)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To echelon
Collins
World English Dictionary
echelon (ˈɛʃəˌlɒn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a level of command, responsibility, etc (esp in the phrase the upper echelons) |
| 2. | military |
| a. a formation in which units follow one another but are offset sufficiently to allow each unit a line of fire ahead | |
| b. a group formed in this way | |
| 3. | physics a type of diffraction grating used in spectroscopy consisting of a series of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset |
| —vb | |
| 4. | to assemble in echelon |
| [C18: from French échelon, literally: rung of a ladder, from Old French eschiele ladder, from Latin scāla; see | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
echelon
1796, from Fr. échelon "level, echelon," lit. "rung of a ladder," from O.Fr. eschelon, from eschiele "ladder," from L.L. scala "stair, slope," from L. scalæ (pl.) "ladder, steps." Originally "step-like arrangement of troops," sense of "level, subdivision" is from WWI.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
These services require a higher echelon of maintenance than is available at a local level.
The black-tie event was a gathering of the top echelon of the fashion industry.
En echelon and parallel breaks commonly occur on strike-slip faults and a few examples are known for normal and reverse faults.
Everything about the top echelon is a state secret.
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