From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishechelonech‧e‧lon /ˈeʃəlɒn $ -lɑːn/ noun [countable] 1 (also echelons [plural])SSOPOSITION/RANK a rank or level of authority in an organization, business etc, or the people at that levelupper/higher/lower echelons the upper echelons of government Their clients are drawn from the highest echelons of society.2 technicalPM a line of ships, soldiers, planes etc arranged in a pattern that looks like a series of steps
Examples from the Corpus
echelon• This length could be reduced slightly if they were stabled en echelon.• The incoming immune adults then graze the lower more fibrous echelons of the herbage which contain the majority of the L3.• Even the highest echelons of management could not explain the decision.• When you are in the lower echelons of any service, you are left guessing a lot of the time.• Police as suspects For some suspects in the second echelon, the search is over.• Brilliant riddles floated up and down the echelons, to be pondered, solved, ignored.• The top echelons of the civil service have generally abjured responsibility for policy decisions.• The nobility of Savoy was also closely linked to the upper echelons of the clergy.• Not the upper upper echelons, but Digby level echelons.upper/higher/lower echelons• That disaffection increasingly is extending from the frontline level into higher echelons.• Not until ten o'clock for the upper echelons.• When you are in the lower echelons of any service, you are left guessing a lot of the time.• There were also wide-ranging personnel changes in the upper echelons of the armed forces and the police.• Women almost all somewhere in the lower echelons. what was the new army going to look like?• However, for those in the higher echelons of government it was a period of seemingly near apocalypse.• The nobility of Savoy was also closely linked to the upper echelons of the clergy.• This insoluble predicament was the source of the decay, corruption and mounting tension evident within the upper echelons of the regime.From Longman Business Dictionaryechelonech‧e‧lon /ˈeʃəlɒn-lɑːn/ noun [countable] a rank or level of responsibility within an organization, group of businesses etc, or a person at that levelthose in the highest echelons of managementThe banking system normally helps allocate money to the lower echelon but at the moment there is a credit squeeze.Origin echelon (1700-1800) French 