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• rank
  rank

  noun

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

  noun

  Otto 1884–1939, Austrian psychoanalyst.

rank

¹ American  

[rangk] / ræŋk /

noun

• ranks
  plural

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 (distinguished from 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.

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verb (used with object)

• ranks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ranked,
  past participle,  past
• ranking
  present participle

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)

• ranks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ranked,
  past participle,  past
• ranking
  present participle

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.

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.

rank ² American  

[rangk] / ræŋk /

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.

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Rank ³ American  

[rahngk] / rɑŋk /

noun

1. Otto 1884–1939, Austrian psychoanalyst.

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rank ¹ British  

/ 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

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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 British  

/ 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

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Rank ³ British  

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

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rank More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing rank

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

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Usage

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.

Synonym Usage

See flagrant.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ranks
  plural

Participles

• ranking
  present
• ranked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rank
  simple
• ranks
  simple
• have ranked
  perfect
• has ranked
  perfect
• am ranking
  progressive
• are ranking
  progressive
• is ranking
  progressive
• have been ranking
  perfect progressive
• has been ranking
  perfect progressive

Past

• ranked
  simple
• had ranked
  perfect
• was ranking
  progressive
• were ranking
  progressive
• had been ranking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rank
  simple
• will have ranked
  perfect
• will be ranking
  progressive
• will have been ranking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

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

Explanation

The word rank often deals with one's position or status in a group. In the military, an officer with a high rank will be in charge of soldiers of lower rank. The noun rank refers to a position within a hierarchy, and to rank something is to put it in order — for example, your high school might rank students in terms of their GPAs. You can also use rank to describe an especially foul smell, like the rank gym shoes in the back of your closet. Linguists see the Old English ranc as having roots prior to the 11th century, possibly from the Old Norse rakkr, meaning "straight."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rank Rank ranks ranker rankest ranked ranking

Polls show a majority of Greenlanders rank the stagnant economy among their main concerns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

But without the draw of series like “Stranger Things” and “The Queen’s Gambit,” which rank among the platform’s most watched shows, the analysts were worried about weakening engagement trends on the platform.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

That was echoed by the Scottish Police Federation, which represents officers up to the rank of chief inspector.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

The available data says the organizational response is at best a huge exaggeration of the rank and file’s view.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

They called him that to settle the difficult matter of rank.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

For Mark Rank, the sociologist who's written about this, the Dream, even if more conditional than before, is still alive.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Another potential beneficiary is Rank One Computing Corp., which saw its stock rise 1.6% on Friday.

From Barron's ● May 1, 2026

Rank the entries on your wishlist in order of importance, then determine three locations that check most of those boxes.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 29, 2025

Rank said the net impact of the tax changes will lead to a reduction of about 40 million pounds a year to its operating profit before mitigation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025

For there they saw us — a Fortification where None had been the Eve before — and now, Rank upon Rank, Company upon Company, standing in our Trenches, we faced them.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Previous American wars equally have highlighted both the fraught nature of serving in higher-level leadership roles and in lower ranks where war’s injurious effects are most grievously felt.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

Once in office, she focused much of her energy on reducing homelessness and bolstering the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

Now the prediction market is bolstering its executive ranks as it eyes an IPO.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

"To some extent Daniel was used because he was seen as a big potential and was a good scalp for somebody who wanted to get through the ranks," Roberts says.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

And that's because the double agent Cherkashin was running inside the highest ranks of the CIA was far more valuable to him than punishing a single renegade KGB colonel.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

Nielsen, which releases a weekly ratings ranker for streaming content, also uses hours watched to rank programs.

From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2021

News, the magazine that has already established itself as the most noticed ranker of the nation’s colleges and universities.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2017

“Because I intend on making one that’s a whole lot ranker than we’ve had before.”

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 1, 2014

In World War II, he worked full time as a fire-fighting "ranker," i.e., enlisted man in the hazardous National Fire Service.

From Time Magazine Archive

It would never do to be called up as an ordinary ranker; but it might be another matter to go as an air mechanic.

From The Man Without a Memory by Arthur W. (Arthur Williams) Marchmont

"Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet," Ms Kennedy told the magazine.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2024

The feminist with a fundamentally optimistic vision, who believed that people, especially men, could be better, might be soon replaced by the rankest misogynist.

From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2020

The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril.

From Washington Post ● May 10, 2018

For the F.A., claiming to be the world’s policeman while turning a blind eye to apparent offenses at home would have been the rankest hypocrisy.

From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2016

Hedgerows and verges were at their rankest and thickest.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

When Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted beneath the South Pacific in January 2022, the explosion ranked among the most powerful volcanic events of the modern era.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

The U.S. won the Paris Olympics tournament, the last major international event for women, but Spain, the reigning World Cup champion, is ranked No. 1 in the world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

But on the other side of the ball, they surrendered 478 yards to a Panthers offense that ranked 27th last season.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Nordqvist's persistent faith in Woad and Hull, playing her two highest ranked players together in the four opening sessions seemed a folly.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Permian’s best and brightest, those ranked in the top ten, re-ported few demands made of them in the classroom as well.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

And after a standout showing at the All-American Bowl, Luke soared into the top rung of every major recruiting ranking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Regardless of ranking, the kingdom is a crude-exporting powerhouse and now sees its export capacity severely curtailed.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

It is reserved for reigning Olympic, world and Diamond League champions, plus athletes who have qualified by world ranking.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Coca-Cola’s revamped Mr. Pibb snagged No. 1 on Morning Consult’s annual Fastest Growing Brands ranking, which is based on purchase consideration in consumer surveys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

And when Josh wanted to start a weekly ranking of the best fifth-grade athletes, Cara told him the list would have to include girls as well as boys.

From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements

Related Words

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