top-down
Americanadjective
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relating to, originating with, or directed by those of highest rank.
a centralized, top-down organization with a chain of command reporting up from every corner of the earth.
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organized or proceeding from the larger, more general structure to smaller, more detailed units, as in processing information.
Top-down investing looks at the big picture, or how the overall economy drives the markets, and then focuses on individual stocks.
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Computers. noting or relating to a methodology used in the design and coding of programs that takes a high-level description of a problem and successively breaks it into smaller and simpler subunits.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of top-down
First recorded in 1940–45; 1970–75 top-down for def. 3; adjective use of the adverb phrase “from the top down ”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is an explicit antidote to the Hollywood model, where notes are often anonymous and top-down.
From Los Angeles Times
Lord Abbett’s portfolio managers combine a top-down macro approach to construct portfolios with bottom-up fundamental research on individual names for its 34 active strategies.
From Barron's
“Despite the rhetoric overtaking the narrative, when direct competitors see directly opposing results, we believe it is hard to blame the typically-easy-to-blame top-down macro pressures.”
From Barron's
“It’s not just purely in your mind,” said O’Brien, who imagines the course through her eyes as opposed to a top-down view or something else that a video game might offer.
From Los Angeles Times
“A top-down shifting from something quite restrictive is complex,” said Philippe Thalmann, a Cambridge University anthropology researcher focused on social reform in Saudi Arabia.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
