seniority

IPA: sinjˈɔrɪti

A measure of the amount of time a person has been a member of an organization, as compared to other members, and with an eye towards awarding privileges to those who have been members longer.

Examples of "seniority" in Sentences

The seniority list is irrelevant.
Seniority is important in the Senate and McCain is the senior senator.
CONAN: So the well, except for the chief justice, no matter what his seniority is sits in the middle.
Try doing that when you don't live anywhere long enough to get promoted and gain seniority at your job.
Doing away with the unions will eliminate the fallacy that seniority is somehow coupled with competence.
As I discussed at the forum, upper chambers of legislatures around the world are more conservative and slower moving, in part because seniority is so paramount in these bodies.
With the inauguration just days away, people are still getting accustomed to their new roles – including President-elect Barack Obama and his former Senate colleagues, many of whom far outranked him in seniority in the past.
The widespread policy of "last in, first out" (the teacher with the least seniority is the first to go when cuts have to be made) makes it harder to hold on to new, enthusiastic educators and ignores the one thing that should matter most: performance. ...