a number of persons forming a separate class in a social hierarchy or in any graded body.
a social or official position or standing, as in the armed forces.
the rank of captain.
high position or station in the social or some similar scale.
a woman of rank.
a class in any scale of comparison.
relative position or standing.
a writer of the first rank.
a row, line, or series of things or persons.
orchestra players arranged in ranks.
ranks,
the members of an armed service apart from its officers; enlisted personnel.
military enlisted personnel as a group.
Usually ranks the general body of any party, society, or organization apart from the officers or leaders.
orderly arrangement; array.
a line of persons, especially soldiers, standing abreast in close-order formation (distinguished from file).
British. a place or station occupied by vehicles available for hire; stand.
a taxi rank.
Chess, Checkers. one of the horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard or checkerboard.
a set of organ pipes of the same kind and tonal color.
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.
Mining. the classification of coal according to hardness, from lignite to anthracite.
to arrange in ranks or in regular formation.
The men were ranked according to height. He ranked the chess pieces on the board.
to assign to a particular position, station, class, etc..
She was ranked among the most admired citizens.
to outrank.
The colonel ranks all other officers in the squadron.
Slang. to insult; criticize.
to form a rank or ranks.
to take up or occupy a place in a particular rank, class, etc..
to rank well ahead of the other students.
to have rank or standing.
to be the senior in rank.
The colonel ranks at this camp.
Slang. to complain.
pull rank (on), to make use of one's superior rank to gain an advantage over (someone). Also pull one's rank (on).
break ranks,
to leave an assigned position in a military formation.
to disagree with, defect from, or refuse to support one's colleagues, party, or the like.
growing with excessive luxuriance; vigorous and tall of growth.
tall rank weeds.
producing an excessive and coarse growth, as land.
having an offensively strong smell or taste.
a rank cigar.
offensively strong, as a smell or taste.
utter; absolute.
a rank amateur; rank treachery.
highly offensive; disgusting.
a rank sight of carnage.
grossly coarse, vulgar, or indecent.
rank language.
Slang. inferior; contemptible.
a position, esp an official one, within a social organization, esp the armed forces
the rank of captain
high social or other standing; status
a line or row of people or things
the position of an item in any ordering or sequence
a place where taxis wait to be hired
a line of soldiers drawn up abreast of each other Compare file 1
any of the eight horizontal rows of squares on a chessboard
(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
music a set of organ pipes controlled by the same stop
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
military to fall out of line, esp when under attack
to maintain discipline or solidarity, esp in anticipation of attack
to get one's own way by virtue of one's superior position or rank
(tr) to arrange (people or things) in rows or lines; range
to accord or be accorded a specific position in an organization, society, or group
(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
(intr) to be important; rate
money ranks low in her order of priorities
to take precedence or surpass in rank
the colonel ranks at this camp
showing vigorous and profuse growth
rank weeds
highly offensive or disagreeable, esp in smell or taste
(prenominal) complete or absolute; utter
a rank outsider
coarse or vulgar; gross
his language was rank
J ( oseph ) Arthur , 1st Baron. 1888–1972, British industrialist and film executive, whose companies dominated the British film industry in the 1940s and 1950s
Otto (ˈɔto). 1884–1939, Austrian psychoanalyst, noted for his theory that the trauma of birth may be reflected in certain forms of mental illness
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.
See flagrant.
First recorded in 1560–70; from French ranc (noun, obsolete), Old French renc, ranc, rang “row, line,” from Germanic, akin to ring 1
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
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This year, scientists are predicting that El Nino could rank among the largest ever recorded.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Together, these patterns offer a rare view of how family relationships may have shaped authority, inheritance, and social rank within the settlement.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
And micromanagers were found to rank as the second most annoying types of people to work with, just behind colleagues who steal credit for others’ work, according to a 2024 Kickresume survey of 3,000 workers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Now Andy Burnham has brought her back into government with a big job running the Cabinet Office and the title of first secretary of state, denoting her senior rank.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
They were awed, but not completely surprised, that their own disaster should rank with these godly affairs.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Another potential beneficiary is Rank One Computing Corp., which saw its stock rise 1.6% on Friday.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
Rank held by Arkansas as the state with the highest percentage of relocations to it in 2025, according to Atlas Van Line’s most recent migration patterns study.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
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
Erin Rank, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity for the Greater Los Angeles area, said that her group saw the growing community within the network and encouraged the group to file for nonprofit status.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
Rank determines whom it can associate with and how; where and when it can eat; where it can rest; where it can drink; and so on.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
At 21, she’s been rising through Hollywood’s ranks, doing everything from animated voices to toplining live-action series, all while garnering millions of social media followers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Having decided to target the youth market to offer the best chance of future success, it would be counterproductive to hold back someone already in their ranks, so Gabriel's call-up for Norway makes perfect sense.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Liverpool have also added to their attacking ranks this summer with the arrival of Germany forward Vivien Endemann from Wolfsburg.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
By the end of 2020, Tesla’s market cap surpassed all global automakers, boosting the company into the ranks of tech giants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
“Steady in the ranks there,” said the hare quietly.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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
Today only Debussy is remembered as a front ranker.
From Time Magazine Archive
An aromatic smell of coffee was diffusing itself through the atmosphere; and this was surrounded and intermingled with the stronger and ranker, though less pungent, odors of the stew aforesaid.
From A Castle in Spain A Novel by De Mille, James
"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
Raisins and nuts and dried ber-ries, but no lemon, that was the rankest sort of southron heresy—which was queer, since he always took lemon in his morning beer.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Chinese systems were ranked as top performers in five out of 11 technological categories in a 2024 CSIS-led report on commercial remote-sensing satellites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
This is particularly true since, unlike most of the countries ranked by the OECD, the student body in major American school districts is overwhelmingly low-income and heavily immigrant.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
After expenses and excluding any sales charges, the Calamos Timpany Small Cap Growth Fund has ranked fourth for one-year total return among the full group of 93 peer funds.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
In his second round alone, he missed seven birdie putts from 15 feet or less - four inside 10 feet - and was ranked 60th in the field on the greens.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Massari didn’t consider his quest unreasonable, nor did he fully grasp how many steps down the ladder the drama program ranked from a powerhouse athletic team.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
They included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the second ranking Democrat in leadership, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
U.S. tech investors may welcome the chance to secure more direct exposure to South Korea’s second-biggest company, ranking behind only Samsung Electronics.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
Fery, a virtually unknown British wild card with a triple-digit ranking, has become the emotional heartbeat of Wimbledon while legitimately diverting some national attention from England’s World Cup quest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
The top four nations in the Fifa world ranking - France, Argentina, Spain and England - were drawn into separate quarters.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
I hadn’t broken through on the domestic circuit yet, so my national ranking was barely worth mentioning.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
