rank

¹

[rangk]

noun

1. a number of persons forming a separate class in a social hierarchy or in any graded body.

2. a social or official position or standing, as in the armed forces.

   the rank of captain.

3. high position or station in the social or some similar scale.

   a woman of rank.

   Synonyms: dignity, eminence, distinction

4. a class in any scale of comparison.

5. relative position or standing.

   a writer of the first rank.

6. a row, line, or series of things or persons.

   orchestra players arranged in ranks.

   Synonyms: tier, range

7. ranks,

   1. the members of an armed service apart from its officers; enlisted personnel.

   2. military enlisted personnel as a group.

8. Usually ranks the general body of any party, society, or organization apart from the officers or leaders.

9. orderly arrangement; array.

   Synonyms: series, disposition

10. a line of persons, especially soldiers, standing abreast in close-order formation (file ).

11. British.,  a place or station occupied by vehicles available for hire; stand.

    a taxi rank.

12. Chess, Checkers.,  one of the horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard or checkerboard.

13. a set of organ pipes of the same kind and tonal color.

14. Also called determinant rank. Mathematics.,  the order of the nonzero determinant of greatest order that can be selected from a given matrix by the elimination of rows and columns.

15. Mining.,  the classification of coal according to hardness, from lignite to anthracite.

verb (used with object)

1. to arrange in ranks or in regular formation.

   The men were ranked according to height. He ranked the chess pieces on the board.

   Synonyms: array, range, align

2. to assign to a particular position, station, class, etc..

   She was ranked among the most admired citizens.

3. to outrank.

   The colonel ranks all other officers in the squadron.

4. Slang.,  to insult; criticize.

verb (used without object)

1. to form a rank or ranks.

2. to take up or occupy a place in a particular rank, class, etc..

   to rank well ahead of the other students.

3. to have rank or standing.

4. to be the senior in rank.

   The colonel ranks at this camp.

5. Slang.,  to complain.

rank

²

[rangk]

adjective

ranker, rankest 

1. growing with excessive luxuriance; vigorous and tall of growth.

   tall rank weeds.

   Synonyms: exuberant, abundant

2. producing an excessive and coarse growth, as land.

3. having an offensively strong smell or taste.

   a rank cigar.

4. offensively strong, as a smell or taste.

5. utter; absolute.

   a rank amateur; rank treachery.

   Synonyms: entire, sheer, complete

6. highly offensive; disgusting.

   a rank sight of carnage.

   Synonyms: repellent, repulsive

7. grossly coarse, vulgar, or indecent.

   rank language.

   Synonyms: foul

8. Slang.,  inferior; contemptible.

Rank

³

[rahngk]

noun

1. Otto 1884–1939, Austrian psychoanalyst.

rank

¹

/ ræŋk /

noun

1. a position, esp an official one, within a social organization, esp the armed forces

   the rank of captain

2. high social or other standing; status

3. a line or row of people or things

4. the position of an item in any ordering or sequence

5. a place where taxis wait to be hired

6. a line of soldiers drawn up abreast of each other Compare file 1

7. any of the eight horizontal rows of squares on a chessboard

8. (in systemic grammar) one of the units of description of which a grammar is composed. Ranks of English grammar are sentence, clause, group, word, and morpheme

9. music a set of organ pipes controlled by the same stop

10. maths (of a matrix) the largest number of linearly independent rows or columns; the number of rows (or columns) of the nonzero determinant of greatest order that can be extracted from the matrix

11. military to fall out of line, esp when under attack

12. to maintain discipline or solidarity, esp in anticipation of attack

13. to get one's own way by virtue of one's superior position or rank

verb

1. (tr) to arrange (people or things) in rows or lines; range

2. to accord or be accorded a specific position in an organization, society, or group

3. (tr) to array (a set of objects) as a sequence, esp in terms of the natural arithmetic ordering of some measure of the elements

   to rank students by their test scores

4. (intr) to be important; rate

   money ranks low in her order of priorities

5. to take precedence or surpass in rank

   the colonel ranks at this camp

rank

²

/ ræŋk /

adjective

1. showing vigorous and profuse growth

   rank weeds

2. highly offensive or disagreeable, esp in smell or taste

3. (prenominal) complete or absolute; utter

   a rank outsider

4. coarse or vulgar; gross

   his language was rank

Rank

³

noun

1. J ( oseph ) Arthur , 1st Baron. 1888–1972, British industrialist and film executive, whose companies dominated the British film industry in the 1940s and 1950s

2. Otto (ˈɔto). 1884–1939, Austrian psychoanalyst, noted for his theory that the trauma of birth may be reflected in certain forms of mental illness

Other Word Forms

• rankly adverb
• rankness noun
• rankless adjective
• unranked adjective
• rankish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rank¹

First recorded in 1560–70; from French ranc (noun, obsolete), Old French renc, ranc, rang “row, line,” from Germanic, akin to ring ¹

Origin of rank²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English ranc “bold, proud, mature, showy”; cognate with Old Norse rakkr “slender, straight, bold”; the original Germanic sense was probably “upright”; the development of the meanings in English is uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of rank¹

C16: from Old French ranc row, rank, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German hring circle

Origin of rank²

Old English ranc straight, noble; related to Old Norse rakkr upright, Dutch, Swedish rank tall and thin, weak

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. pull rank (on), to make use of one's superior rank to gain an advantage over (someone). Also pull one's rank (on).

2. break ranks,

   1. to leave an assigned position in a military formation.

   2. to disagree with, defect from, or refuse to support one's colleagues, party, or the like.

More idioms and phrases containing rank

• break ranks
• close ranks
• pull rank
• rise through the ranks

Synonym Study

See flagrant.

Example Sentences

With the safety net of a quarter-final place already assured, they will road-test against, on world ranking at least, their strongest opponents so far.

From BBC

That’s not exactly encouraging news since Colorado’s collection of prospects ranks in the bottom seven in baseball in multiple surveys.

From Los Angeles Times

In contrast, just 11% of those who backed Remain are to be found in the ranks of current Reform supporters.

From BBC

The OfS ranks universities into four categories - gold, silver, bronze and "requires improvement".

From BBC

She is the club’s all-time scoring leader with 21 goals in all competition and she ranks sixth in appearances with 74.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• class 
• division 
• family 
• grade 
• hierarchy 
• level 
• position 
• reputation 
• slot 
• stature 
• status 

When To Use

What does rank mean?

Rank most commonly refers to the position or status that has been assigned to someone or something to distinguish it from others in a group.In certain organizations, especially the military, rank refers to someone’s official position in a hierarchy—an organizational structure in which people have increasing levels of authority based on their rank. For example, in the military, the lowest rank may be private, and the highest rank may be general.The word can also be used to refer to less official positions or statuses (ones that have not been assigned but exist based on other factors), such as a person’s status within society. Rank can also be used collectively to refer to all of the people within a group with the same status.As a verb, rank most commonly means to assign something a status or position to distinguish it from others in a group, as in Please rank the top five candidates in order from best to worst. It can also mean to have a particular rank or position, as in She ranks above all the other executives.The verb rank is sometimes used in overlapping ways with the verb rate, but rate most commonly means to assign something a value or rating independently of other things, whereas rank typically means to determine the position of something compared to other things.Unrelatedly, rank can also be used as an adjective meaning offensively strong, especially in smell or taste, as in There’s a rank odor coming from the trash can. Rank is a very common word and has many other specific meanings as a noun, verb, and adjective.