pecking order

noun

variants or less commonly peck order

1

: the basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank

broadly : a dominance hierarchy in a group of social animals

2

: a social hierarchy

Examples of pecking order in a Sentence

As an assistant manager, he was pretty low in the company's pecking order.

the pecking order of Washington politics

Recent Examples on the Web

There were arguably three players ahead of her in the pecking order in Catarina Macario, Maika Hamano and Sjoeke Nusken. —Jessy Parker Humphreys, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

Hopkins, who turns 33 in June, could find himself further down the pecking order in Baltimore's offense next season. —Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 11 Mar. 2025

Sometimes a hen gets picked on by the others and has to be coaxed back into the pecking order. —Tove Danovich, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2025

That way, the buyers, as unsecured creditors, would not be lower in the pecking order to lenders, the secured creditors. —Linda Robertson, Miami Herald, 2 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pecking order

• boarder
• border
• corder
• warder
• camcorder
• disorder
• recorder
• reorder
• suborder
• transborder

Kids Definition

pecking order

noun

variants also peck order

1

: a basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without being pecked in return and allows pecking by one of higher rank

2

: a social order with ranks or classes

Medical Definition

pecking order

noun

peck·​ing order ˈpek-iŋ-ˌ 

variants also peck order

ˈpek-ˌ 

: the basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank compare cannibalism sense 3, dominance sense a