variants
also peck orders
as in rankings
the way in which people or things in a group or organization are placed in a series of levels with different importance or status
As an assistant manager, he was pretty low in the company's pecking order.
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Recent Examples of pecking orders
From playoff pecking orders to division title tiebreakers to how the NFC South can be won (or lost) in only two games instead of four, Fowler and Kaye break it all down for the Carolina faithful.
—
Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 10 Dec. 2025
Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 10 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pecking orders
Noun
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Texas dominated many national rankings in the report as well, with the ZIP code encompassing the Dallas suburb of Crandall ranking second on the list and a more urban Dallas ZIP code ranking 10th.—
Faith Bugenhagen,
Austin American Statesman,
28 Feb. 2026
Noun
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That includes a president, a parliament and varying governmental, military and religious hierarchies, noted Paul Salem, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.—
Nabih Bulos,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Mar. 2026
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And Atget was a man who didn’t believe in hierarchies of visual experience, who stood for a long time in front of what others might call nothing, seeing everything.—
Hilton Als,
New Yorker,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
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That could lead to a local or regional collapse of ocean food chains.—
Sergio Pereira,
Space.com,
27 Feb. 2026
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Burger King is one of several fast food chains experimenting with artificial intelligence.—
Dee-Ann Durbin,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pecking orders.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pecking%20orders. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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