great chain of being
great chain of being noun: a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, descending from God through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals, and thought in medieval times to have been decreed by God.
Noun (1)
great chain of being (plural great chains of being)
- A hierarchical structure of all matter and life, descending from God through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals, and thought in medieval times to have been decreed by God.
- Vaſt Chain of Being! which from God began, / Ethereal Eſſence, Spirit, Subſtance, Man, / Beaſt, Bird, Fiſh, Inſect! what no Eye can ſee, / No Glaſs can reach! from Infinite to Thee!1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 235
- If the one spirit permeated all things, if its all-energising presence linked the flower with the crystal as well as with the demon and the god, must it not link together also the two extremes of the great chain of being?1852 January – 1853 April, Charles Kingsley, Jun., chapter XXV, in Hypatia: Or, New Foes with an Old Face. […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 256
- Synonyms:
- Chain of Being
Noun (2) capitalized: Great Chain of Being
Great Chain of Being (plural Great Chains of Being)
- Alternative letter-case form of great chain of being.
Synonyms of great chain of being
Forms of great chain of being
| plural | great chains of being |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Great Chain of Being |
| plural | Great Chains of Being |
Questions about great chain of being
- What does great chain of being mean?
- Great chain of being means a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, descending from God through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals, and thought in medieval times to have been decreed by God.
- What part of speech is great chain of being?
- Great chain of being is a noun.
- What is the plural of great chain of being?
- The plural of great chain of being is great chains of being.
Words near great chain of being in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: great chain of being (page history and authors); Great Chain of Being (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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