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

So the pecking order there is worth monitoring with Mafah’s addition. — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 14 Sep. 2026

Fascinating and fraught internal team dynamics then played out, as Visma’s supposed two leaders, Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, initially struggled to adapt to Kuss being above them in the pecking order. — Chris Marshall-Bell, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

There’s a chance this doesn’t resolve at all until next spring or beyond, leaving two major Hollywood studios’ workforces, at just about every level of the pecking order, in limbo, wondering whether they’ll be canned in a few months. — Josef Adalian, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2026

For many, the refusal to acknowledge any kind of pecking order will feel fresh, fun, validating and/or thought-provoking. — Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2026

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