Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ECHELON
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pronounce
ECHELON:
Say it "ESH uh lon."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Let's say we all have a file folder, a mental one, labeled "Words from the Latin Scala." (In Latin, scala is "ladder" or "flight of stairs.") This folder already holds the words scale, escalator, and e____ d_ ___scalier, "spirit of the staircase," or less literally, "a great response that you think of too late."
And now, we're opening up that folder and sliding in the word echelon. It means "a 'stair' within a staircase-like arrangement of things."
While we're at it, let's also open up the folder labeled "Words with a Military Tone," and place echelon there, too, right next to mar___et ("someone strict and rigid about rules, like a drill sergeant"), mil___nt ("violent in the name of a cause"), and ph___nx ("any tightly-organized group, one that reminds you of soldiers").
Can you recall all those terms with blanks? And, will you be fiddling today with any other mental file folders of words? I hope so. It's a wonderful strategy for retaining words, for helping them belong to you.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
The word "echelon" came into English through French, but we can trace it all the way back to the Latin word for "ladder or stairs."
Literally speaking, when things are in echelon, they're in a staircase-like formation.
Let's see what that looks like, with thanks to Wikipedia for the images. Here are some planes in echelon:
And here's a diagram of troops and ships in echelon:
As you can see, to arrange things in echelon is to arrange them like stairs on a staircase.
So, more loosely speaking, an echelon is some specific level within an orderly system of levels. In other words, echelons are ranks, levels, or positions within some orderly system.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: It's a noun, most often the countable kind: "They've reached the highest echelons of the company." It can also be uncountable: "They moved in echelon toward the enemy."
Other forms: The only common one is the plural noun, "echelons." But you can also use "echelon" as a verb, either the transitive kind ("He echeloned the troops") or the intransitive kind ("The troops echeloned across the field").
how to use it:
With its military tone and its fancy French sound, "echelon" is so much fun to use.
We most often pluralize it and use it to talk about the top echelons, the upper echelons, or the highest echelons.
And unless our listeners already know what field, area, or industry we're talking about, we often follow the word "echelon" with the phrase "of something," as in "the top echelons of society," "the upper echelons of the Republican party," or "the highest echelons of the journalism industry."
And we talk about people and things being in the top echelons, rising to the upper echelons, being granted access to the highest echelons, etc.
It's less common, but we can also talk about things and people being in the lower or lowest echelons, falling to a lower echelon, being banished to the lowest echelon, etc.
And even less commonly in civilian life, we talk more literally about things being in echelon, moving in echelon, following in echelon, attacking in echelon, etc.
examples:
"That puts Jeep squarely in the top echelons of e-bikes in terms of price."
— Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 2 March 2020
"Aileen Lee...found that many of the start-ups that reaped the hugest riches for venture capital investors — Facebook and LinkedIn, for example — often reached a valuation of $1 billion or more while they were privately held. Because of their rarity, Ms. Lee called those companies 'unicorns...' Every month, more companies are jumping into the unicorn echelon."
— Katie Benner, New York Times, 23 August 2015
Below, check out how H. G. Wells talks figuratively about a single person moving in echelon, because she and her "ample skirts" are like an entire military:
"She gathered her ample skirts together and advanced into the midst of the large lawn, with very much of the effect of a fleet of captive balloons dragging their anchors...She turned the flank of the lilacs...and advanced in echelon with a stately swiftness upon the laurels beyond."
— H. G. Wells, The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman, 1914
has this page helped you understand "echelon"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "echelon" without saying "rank" or "position."
try it out:
Mack Reynolds wrote, "In any status-hungry culture, the level a man is assigned depends on what people think he is—not on what he is. And that, of course, means that only the deliberately phony has real status!"
Oh, snap! Is he right? Talk about whether you think the upper echelons are filled with phonies. Can you list some counterexamples: some warm, genuine, humble people in the top echelons of society, politics, business, or other spheres?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
This month, our game is called "Fix the Grand Spell which was Cast by Short Words."
(Or, in monstrously inflated terms, the game is called "Rewrite the Extraordinary Incantation which was Executed by Monosyllabic Vocables.")
In each issue, I'll offer a familiar quote that I've heartlessly hypertrophied with polysyllabic transplants. You'll restore the quote to its original version, with each word just one syllable long.
That is to say, I'll share a fat, fake draft of a famed quote; you'll say the trim real one.
For example, if I say "Exploit an opportunity while the situation allows," then you say, "Make hay while the sun shines." If I say, "Durations remedy every laceration," then you say, "Time heals all wounds."
From the previous issue:
"I don't verbalize generic garbage. I verbalize personalized insults." --> "I don't talk trash. I talk smack."
Try this today: "You assail the ruler, you oughtn't misfire."
Say that, but in words of one beat each.
Clues:
Where it's from: a TV show.
The year we first heard it: 2002.
review this word:
A. WELL-PREPARED.
B. LOOSELY-CLUSTERED.
C. UNABASHEDLY CRUDE.
2. _____, she _____ echelons of the company.
A. Step after step .. climbed to the highest
B. One after the other .. mastered the most fundamental
C. Delighting in the pettiness .. handed the cupcakes with the least icing to the
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Let's say we all have a file folder, a mental one, labeled "Words from the Latin Scala." (In Latin, scala is "ladder" or "flight of stairs.") This folder already holds the words scale, escalator, and e____ d_ ___scalier, "spirit of the staircase," or less literally, "a great response that you think of too late." The word "echelon" came into English through French, but we can trace it all the way back to the Latin word for "ladder or stairs."
Part of speech: It's a noun, most often the countable kind: "They've reached the highest echelons of the company." It can also be uncountable: "They moved in echelon toward the enemy."
With its military tone and its fancy French sound, "echelon" is so much fun to use.
"That puts Jeep squarely in the top echelons of e-bikes in terms of price."
Explain the meaning of "echelon" without saying "rank" or "position."
Mack Reynolds wrote, "In any status-hungry culture, the level a man is assigned depends on what people think he is—not on what he is. And that, of course, means that only the deliberately phony has real status!"
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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