ranking
Americanadjective
noun
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an act or instance of indicating relative standing.
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a list showing such standing.
adjective
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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.
As athletes vie for world ranking points, the event could be a true Olympic preview two years before the Games begin at the Coliseum.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2026
Galo also said that the fact these recurring fees were not accounted for in the purchasing agent’s ranking “makes me suspicious.”
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2026
Rachel Corsie: Turkey could be tricky for some, and I don't know if this is really a surprise but I think Japan could go beyond where their world ranking of 18 suggests.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
Their faith and enthusiasm helped the company’s valuation reach a level that surpasses the next 30 largest automakers’ combined—despite ranking 12th in U.S. sales.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
Though Mammachi had conical corneas and was already practically blind, Pappachi would not help her with the pickle-making because he did not consider pickle-making a suitable job for a high- ranking ex-Government official.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
