pecking order

noun

variants or less commonly peck order

1

: the basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank

broadly : a dominance hierarchy in a group of social animals

2

: a social hierarchy

Examples of pecking order in a Sentence

As an assistant manager, he was pretty low in the company's pecking order.

the pecking order of Washington politics

Recent Examples on the Web

Denver would sink to the bottom of the pecking order due to its 0-4 record against Minnesota this season. —Matt Schubert, Denver Post, 12 Apr. 2025

After that, the quarterback pecking order has been rather mixed. —Gordon G. Chang, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025

Yildiz hadn’t scored for Juve since the derby win against Torino on January 11, a period of well over two months, and had fallen down the pecking order under Motta towards the end. —Emmet Gates, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025

Yet Yildiz has fallen down the pecking order at Juve, and has only scored four goals and provided two assists from 28 games in Serie A this season. —Emmet Gates, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pecking order

• boarder
• border
• corder
• warder
• camcorder
• disorder
• recorder
• reorder
• suborder
• transborder

Kids Definition

pecking order

noun

variants also peck order

1

: a basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without being pecked in return and allows pecking by one of higher rank

2

: a social order with ranks or classes

Medical Definition

pecking order

noun

peck·​ing order ˈpek-iŋ-ˌ 

variants also peck order

ˈpek-ˌ 

: the basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank compare cannibalism sense 3, dominance sense a