ranking

American  

[rang-king] / ˈræŋ kɪŋ /

adjective

1. senior or superior in rank, position, etc..

   a ranking diplomat.

2. prominent or highly regarded.

   a ranking authority on Soviet affairs.

3. occupying a specific rank, position, etc. (often used in combination).

   a low-ranking executive.

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noun

1. an act or instance of indicating relative standing.

2. a list showing such standing.

ranking British  

/ ˈræŋkɪŋ /

adjective

1. prominent; high ranking

2. slang possessed of style; fashionable; exciting

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noun

1. a position on a scale; rating

   a ranking in a tennis tournament

Etymology

Origin of ranking

First recorded in 1860–65; rank ¹ + -ing ², -ing ¹

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."

Example Sentences

Investors have poured about a net $680 million into the fund this year, ranking it second among all total market value ETFs, according to FactSet.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

It sent preliminary findings, proposing that Google start to let third-party search engines, as well as artificial-intelligence chatbots, access search data, including ranking, query and click-and-view data on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 16, 2026

Dodgers president Stan Kasten pointed to the popularity and excellence of the players, the cherished ballpark and the generational fan support as factors contributing to the top ranking.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

England's Jack Lisowski, who claimed his first ranking title with victory at the Northern Ireland Open in October, was also eliminated - going down 10-5 to China's He Guoqiang.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

Just a few months into the season, I had fenced well enough in the domestic competitions that I now had a high enough national ranking to compete on the international circuit.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Related Words

• extent
• proportion
• range
• rate
• ratio
• scope
• system