echelon

Meanings

Plural: echelons

Noun

a body of troops arranged in a line
a diffraction grating consisting of a pile of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset
A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.
A line of riders seeking maximum drafting in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road.
A formation of troops, ships, aircraft, etc., in diagonal parallel rows.

Verb

To form troops into an echelon.

Adj

Of a matrix: having undergone Gaussian elimination with the result that the leading coefficient or pivot (that is, the first nonzero number from the left) of a nonzero row is to the right of the pivot of the row above it, giving rise to a stepped appearance in the matrix.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from French échelon (“rung; echelon”), from échelle (“ladder”) + -on (diminutive suffix). Échelle is derived from Latin scāla (“ladder”), from scandō (“to ascend, climb”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump”).

Scrabble Score: 12

echelon is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
echelon is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
echelon is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

echelon is a valid Words With Friends word