- present participle of rank.
ranking
Americanadjective
noun
-
rankings
plural
-
an act or instance of indicating relative standing.
-
a list showing such standing.
adjective
-
prominent; high ranking
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slang possessed of style; fashionable; exciting
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ranking
Explanation
Your spot on a scale is your ranking. If your football team has a #10 ranking and you’re playing #1, well good luck. Your class ranking is how you measure up. The student with the highest ranking is the valedictorian. All kinds of things have rankings, from the top 100 colleges in the US to a person's constantly updated list of favorite horror movies. Athletes and the teams they play for have rankings too. In the military, someone who has a higher rank, or position, than anyone else who's present might say, "As the ranking officer, I'll command the troops to retreat."
Vocabulary lists containing ranking
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
With a world ranking of 611, Williams is reliant on wildcards to compete.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Google adjusted its site ranking policy in most of Europe to avoid an antitrust fine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
A ranking last year by US-Canadian campaign group Stand Earth placed Shein tied for last place on a list of over 40 major fashion brands in terms of their environmental practices.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
It had about $47 billion in assets as of midyear, ranking as the 57th-largest bank holding company in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
He was Chamberlain’s ranking officer, an ex-teacher from Wiscas- set who was impressed with Chamberlain’s professorship.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
The Times’ top 10 high school football rankings from the City Section:
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Shook Research partnered with Forbes in 2016, and for years has provided editorial rankings of financial professionals, such as top wealth advisers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
The company doesn’t charge for inclusion in the rankings but does sell plaques and reprints to those who make the lists; Forbes and Shook Research share that revenue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
The top six pairs with the best combined singles rankings have received direct entry into the main draw, with another eight receiving wildcards.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
All you had to do was watch the top rankings on the Scoreboard and wait until someone’s score increased.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
