www.alphadictionary.com

Today I came across this description in the caption for a picture showing a baby dolphin swimming next to its mother: "A newborn calf swims in echelon position alongside its mother." [1]

This term refers to a particular formation of individuals in relation to one another. The usage I was more familiar with is positional, but in what seems a rather different sense: "high echelon"; the context is often, but not necessarily, military.

[1] https://potomac.org/blog/2022/06/baby-d ... omac-river

Interestingly to me is that the article assumes the reader knows the term, as it isn't explained in the body, merely used in two captions. It's what I expected, an angled step-ladder effect of each rung being along the echelon. And, now that I've looked it up even further, that's the literal meaning of echelon; rung on a ladder. Thus making the upper echelons of fill-in-the-blank the higher ranks.