Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to a hierarchical structure or process that progresses from a large, basic unit to smaller, detailed subunits.
- adjective Commanded by or originating from ones having the highest rank.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective of, or relating to a
hierarchical system thatprogresses from a single, large basicunit to multiple, smallersubunits
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of an approach to a problem that begins at the highest conceptual level and works down to the details
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Like the skills children develop playing "Simon Says," the skills children use to pay attention to what's happening in the present moment what they're feeling, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling right now are called 'top-down' attention control and come from focusing on the task at hand.
Susan Kaiser Greenland: Ready for School? Executive Function = Success Susan Kaiser Greenland 2011
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Like the skills children develop playing "Simon Says," the skills children use to pay attention to what's happening in the present moment what they're feeling, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling right now are called 'top-down' attention control and come from focusing on the task at hand.
Susan Kaiser Greenland: Ready for School? Executive Function = Success Susan Kaiser Greenland 2011
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For example, some students are described as top-down readers.
A Mind at a Time M.D. Mel Levine 2002
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For example, some students are described as top-down readers.
A Mind at a Time M.D. Mel Levine 2002
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In the argot of Wall Street, broad economic growth projections are called top-down forecasts because they incorporate a wide range of macroeconomic factors, like manufacturing output and the unemployment rate.
NYT > Home Page By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ 2011
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My experience in Tunis has taught me that the U.S. should reexamine its diplomatic approach: one that challenges the notion of top-down diplomacy and includes youth in the dialogue.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Maytha Alhassen 2011
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In those days the Democrats were still very much a top-down party, with the White House wielding enormous influence.
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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In those days the Democrats were still very much a top-down party, with the White House wielding enormous influence.
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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In those days the Democrats were still very much a top-down party, with the White House wielding enormous influence.
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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* Even then, the Archdiocese acts more like a government than a private actor, in that it can issue top-down commands to integrate, even if many individual parishioners would have personally disagreed.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Public Opinion, Anti-Discrimination Law, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 2010
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