From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe higher/lower reaches of somethingthe higher/lower reaches of somethingthe high or low levels of an organization or system They lingered in the lower reaches of the Football League. → reach
Examples from the Corpus
the higher/lower reaches of something• Councillor Enderby had all the fluency of a life spent in the lower reaches of local government.• Quality flounder from the lower reaches of Poole harbour.• A booming hearty from the higher reaches of Personnel fills our glasses and remembers nearly everyone's name.• But in the higher reaches of the Yorkshire Dales, there is nowhere to hide.• There's many more like them, and not just in the lower reaches of the Football League.• It became a rough bridleway, leading through a series of gates on to the lower reaches of moorland.• She could either turn round, or brazen her way past the pressmen to the lower reaches of the parkland.• A clutch of them have clawed their way to the higher reaches of educational administration. 