How to use echelon in a sentence

18 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Echelon means a level or rank in an organization, profession, or society. Example: “Officials in China are divided into three echelons, or generations.”

Examples of echelon by meaning

nounA level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.

Officials in China are divided into three echelons, or generations.2004, Alfred Kuo-liang Ho, “Deng’s Political Reforms”, in China’s Reforms and Reformers, Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, Greenwood...

nounA line of riders seeking maximum drafting in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road.

In an echelon, in which several cyclists are sitting in on one another, each rider takes his turn of about 200 meters at the front before dropping to the rear.1972, Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, volume 43, [Washington, D.C.]: American...
Cyclists in an echelon take up more room in the traffic lane than they do when riding single or double file.1989, Fred Matheny, Bicycling Magazine’s Complete Guide to Riding and Racing Techniques, Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, →ISBN, page 99

nounA formation of troops, ships, aircraft, etc., in diagonal parallel rows.

“The first echelon of the Russian force was stuck without heat, without oil, without bombs and without gas.2022 March 28, Julian Borger, quoting Yaroslav Honchar, “The drone operators who halted Russian convoy headed for Kyiv”, in The Guardian

verbTo form troops into an echelon.

Behind the 17th Panzer Division the corps echeloned the main force of its other division, the 16th Panzer Division.1968, Earl F[rederick] Ziemke, “Offensives on Both Flanks—the South Flank”, in Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East (Army...

More sentences with echelon

The celebration of the social media revolution also reached the higher echelons of politics.2012, Paolo Gerbaudo, Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto Press, →ISBN. From the entry social media revolution
To compensate, my hand wove a defensive echelon, drawing proto-matter from the vcast generator to create a floating shield.2015, Eric Dallaire, Shades: The Gehenna Dilemma, →ISBN. From the entry proto-matter
"It's a man's world — the top echelons of politics and business here are all dominated by men," said Emily Lau.2011 February 21, Bettina Wassener, “Women Still Face Barriers in Hong Kong”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Jul 2019. From the entry it's a man's world
The documents in this report reveal how such doctrinal disagreements have historically driven wedges within the upper echelons of al-Qa'ida.2006 February 14, “Organizational Vulnerabilities and Recommendations to Exploit Them”, in Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al-Qa’ida’s…. From the entry underbelly
That attentive second echelon of society liked, where possible, to be seen to be associated with the squattocracy.2005, Rosamond Siemon, The Eccentric Mr Wienholt, University of Queensland Press, page 206. From the entry squattocracy
Fragment of pot-net (?), blue ring-beads only, set in pairs or as above in threes, threaded en echelon.1923, George Andrew Reisner, Excavations at Kerma, volume 4, page 105. From the entry en echelon
One of academia’s deficiencies is that, though its lecture halls and graduate schools are replete with women, its higher echelons are not.2013 August 31, “Promotion and self-promotion”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8851. From the entry deficiency
Slanting in echelon NE, the three Jap perimeters outguarded four P Perimeters some distance south which had defeated the Aussie tank attack 12 Jan.1997, Dr. Hargis Westefield, Joe Murphy, “Infighting at Sanananda”, in 41st Infantry Division: Fighting Jungleers, page xxxix. From the entry outguard
Observing the highest echelons of Indian society, she notes the way in which some Indians become completely — almost absurdly — anglicized or deracinated.1986, Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil, The Story of English, Viking Penguin Inc., page 328. From the entry deracinate
The presence of the grabens, their orientation and en echelon arrangement, and the age of movement are all consistent with divergent strike-slip movement.1985, Fossil Energy Update, page 74. From the entry en echelon
The notion that life in Harvard's upper echelons might be as back-stabby as life in the backwater small-town precincts of Florida never seems to have crossed the filmmakers' minds.1995 February 15, Peter Rainer, “Movie Review: Talented Cast Bogged Down in Mystery Thriller 'Cause'”, in Los Angeles Times. From the entry back-stabby
Photographs indicate that the southern terminals of the ditch system next the west gate may be in echelon, whilst those marginal to the east gate may be slightly inturned.1986, University of Wales Board of Celtic Studies, Bwletin Y Bwrdd Gwybodau Celtaidd - Volume 33, page 413. From the entry next
Some Maoist “party cadres” at the lower echelon have taken an attitude of passive resistance against the “campaign of learning from Tachai in agriculture,” that was launched by Mao Tse-tung.1975 December 21, “Difficulties in agriculture”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVI, number 50, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3. From the entry passive resistance

Meaning of echelon

noun A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.
noun A line of riders seeking maximum drafting in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road.
noun A formation of troops, ships, aircraft, etc., in diagonal parallel rows.

Full definition of echelon

Questions about echelon in a sentence

How do you use echelon in a sentence?: Echelon is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “Officials in China are divided into three echelons, or generations.”
What is a short sentence with echelon?: “Officials in China are divided into three echelons, or generations.”
What does echelon mean?: Echelon means a level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.

Adapted from Wiktionary: echelon (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use echelon in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/echelon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.