tier
/tɪə
/noun
1Each in a series of rows or levels of a structure placed one above the other: a tier of seats [in combination]: the room was full of three-tier metal bunks...
- For an hour-and-a-half, their contest was so intense that from the court you could hear cutlery being removed from the hospitality booths three tiers above.
- But the residents say development will come within 70 ft of the edge of the boulder clay cliff and will be only 30 to 50 ft above the first tier of houses.
- Three sides of the inner chamber were lined with tiers of seats, the fourth being a flat extension of the floor, where sat the Mayor and his clerks.
Synonyms
row, rank, bank, line;
layer, level, plane, floor, storey, deck
1.1Each of a number of successively overlapping ruffles or flounces on a garment: a full skirt gathered into three tiers...
- Nicole Kidman chose a Chanel pink-chiffon, spaghetti-strap gown with tiers of ruffles running down the bodice, and 200 carats of raw Bulgari diamonds wrapped around her neck.
- Scarlet Johansson in a very green dress that has tiers of green ruffles.
- Meg took it and drank slowly, careful not to spill any on her dress, while Mrs. Carroll fretted around the pair, nervously fidgeting with the bottom tier of the gown.
1.2A level or grade within the hierarchy of an organization or system: companies have taken out a tier of management to save money...
- We should like to see a better representation from people of various faiths at all tiers within the Charity Commission.
- Critics of the plan believe it is rooted as much in political expediency as in a genuine desire to revamp the topmost tier of the legal system.
- These schools would compose the bottom tier of an educational hierarchy based on privilege.
Synonyms
grade, gradation, step, echelon, point on the scale, rung on the ladder
archaic degree
1.3 (usually tiers) (In Tasmania and South Australia) a forested mountain range, especially one of a series: open plains bordered by far extending precipitous mountain tiers...
- Tasmania's logging furore centres on the Styx Valley, the Tarkine, the Great Western Tiers, the Northeast Highlands, the Eastern Tiers, the Tasman Peninsula and the Leven Valley.
- It's disastrous that we're clearing over very large attitudinal ranges, in places like the Western Tiers.
- She says her Blue Tiers mountain biking tourism concept will create more than 50 long-term jobs in the North-East.
Origin
Late 15th century: from French tire 'sequence, order', from tirer 'elongate, draw'.