Word.ws English Dictionary

hierarchize

hierarchize verb: to establish a hierarchy.

Verb

hierarchize (third-person singular simple present hierarchizes, present participle hierarchizing, simple past and past participle hierarchized)

  1. (intransitive) To establish a hierarchy.
    • It operates not by differentiating individuals, but by specifying acts according to a number of general categories; not by hierarchizing but quite simply by bringing into play the binary opposition of the permitted and the forbidden.1979, Michel Foucault, translated by Alan Sheridan, Discipline and Punish, page 183
  2. (transitive) To arrange in a hierarchy.
    • The state hierarchizes sexuality by defining homosexuality as an influence that corrupts minors. Such a discourse produces a notion of the correct sexual behavior that transcends into the political realm, reinforcing the heteronationalistic nature of the nation-building.2018 January, Nikita Sleptcov, “Political Homophobia as a State Strategy in Russia”, in Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective, volume 12, number 1, page 146

Forms of hierarchize

third-person singular presenthierarchizes
present participlehierarchizing
past participlehierarchized
pasthierarchized

Origin of hierarchize

From hierarchy + -ize.

Words formed from hierarchize

Questions about hierarchize

What does hierarchize mean?
Hierarchize means to establish a hierarchy.
What part of speech is hierarchize?
Hierarchize is a verb.
What is the past tense of hierarchize?
The past tense of hierarchize is hierarchized.

Words near hierarchize in the dictionary

  1. hierarchisms
  2. hierarchist
  3. hierarchists
  4. hierarchization
  5. hierarchizations
  6. hierarchize
  7. hierarchized
  8. hierarchizes
  9. hierarchizing
  10. hierarchs
  11. hierarchy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hierarchize (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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