hierarchs
Top clergy members
Hierarchs are people who hold high positions in a hierarchy, especially in religious organizations.
The term most commonly refers to senior clergy in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or other Christian churches—bishops, archbishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs who exercise authority over lower-ranking clergy and laypeople.
The Orthodox hierarchs convened to discuss church doctrine.
Outside religious contexts, hierarchs occasionally describes leaders at the top of any rigid organizational structure.
High-ranking clergy members
- archbishopsHighest-ranking diocesan clergy
- patriarchsMale ancestral leaders
- metropolitansSenior bishops or city folk
- cardinalsPope-electing prelates or finches
primates · popes · pontiffs · prelates · abbots · abbesses · ayatollahs · high priests
Superior influence over others
- supremacyHighest rank or power
- hegemonyDominant group's control
- ascendancyDominant power or influence
- preeminenceSuperior status above others
sovereignty · control · influence · sway · command · jurisdiction · mandate · legitimacy
Rulers with crowns
- emperorsSupreme rulers of realms
- sovereignsSupreme rulers of nations
- potentatesRulers with great power
- overlordsSupreme authoritarian rulers
dynasts · regents · sultans · pharaohs · czars · chiefs · chieftains · warlords
Senior corporate officers
- directorsThose who lead organizations
- administratorsPeople overseeing operations
- overseersThose who supervise others
- superintendentsThose who oversee operations
managers · chairpersons · presidents · commissioners · secretaries-general · deans · provosts · chancellors
bishops
High-ranking clergy members
- archbishopsHighest-ranking diocesan clergy
- patriarchsMale ancestral leaders
- metropolitansSenior bishops or city folk
cardinals · primates · popes · pontiffs · prelates · abbots · abbesses · ayatollahs · high priests · episcopate
dominance
Superior influence over others
- supremacyHighest rank or power
- hegemonyDominant group's control
- ascendancyDominant power or influence
preeminence · sovereignty · control · influence · sway · command · jurisdiction · mandate · legitimacy · imperium
monarchs
Rulers with crowns
- emperorsSupreme rulers of realms
- sovereignsSupreme rulers of nations
- potentatesRulers with great power
overlords · dynasts · regents · sultans · pharaohs · czars · chiefs · chieftains · warlords · oligarchs
executives
Senior corporate officers
- directorsThose who lead organizations
- administratorsPeople overseeing operations
- overseersThose who supervise others
superintendents · managers · chairpersons · presidents · commissioners · secretaries-general · deans · provosts · chancellors · headmasters
hierarchssubordinates
Those ranked below
underlings · rank and file · foot soldiers · novices · followers
hierarchslaypeople
Those outside a profession
laity · laymen · laywomen · lay members · parishioners
hierarchsegalitarians
Advocates for equal rights
commoners · the masses · democrats · collectivists · equals
- church hierarchyRanked religious leadership structure
- hierarchical systemStructure with ranked levels
- organizational hierarchyRanked structure of authority
- social hierarchyStratified arrangement of status
- hierarchy of needsOrdered human motivations theory
- government hierarchyRanked system of officials
hierarchy, hierarchical, hierarchically, hierarchic, hierarch, hierarchize, hierarchal, hierarchized, hierarchizing