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

The first is Ronaldo running into Joao Felix at the back post as both men attempted to tap a low cross from the left into an empty net, in what felt like a friendly but firm introduction to Al Nassr’s scoring pecking order. —Liam Twomey, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2025

Those will be critical for sorting out the pecking order behind the top two. —Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 1 Aug. 2025

But Grealish has slipped down the pecking order in the last two years. —Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 30 July 2025

Further down the pecking order, Will Lankshear, also 20, and 21-year-old Dane Scarlett lack the experience to spearhead the attack regularly in the biggest competitions. —Elias Burke, New York Times, 27 July 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