rank scale

American  

noun

Linguistics.

1. (in systemic linguistics) a hierarchical ordering of grammatical units such that a unit of a given rank normally consists of units of the next lower rank, as, in English, the ordering sentence, clause, group or phrase, word, morpheme.

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Example Sentences

Rate, rāt, n. a ratio or proportion: allowance: standard: value: price: the class of a ship and of seamen: movement, as fast or slow: a tax.—v.t. to calculate: to estimate: to settle the relative rank, scale, or position of.—v.i. to make an estimate: to be placed in a certain class: to ratify.—ns.

From Project Gutenberg

They feed, as it were, on the garbage left by others, never changing, never improving, never advancing in the social rank, scale, or utility—outcast and foul parasites from the earliest ages, and they so remain. 

From Project Gutenberg