DictionaryAI

rank

RANK/ɹæŋk/

Verbranks, ranking, ranked

Noun pluralranks

23 meanings of rank

Practice

  1. 1
    be placedverbintransitive
    To hold a particular position within a ranking.

    The university ranks third in the nation for engineering.

    Few hotels rank as highly as this one for service.

    UsageFollowed by a position or comparison: rank third, rank highly, rank among the best, rank with someone.

    Similarrate, place, stand

    Note

    This verb is intransitive and usually followed by a position or a comparison: a defense ranks third, a hotel ranks highly, one person ranks with another. Rank with means stand level with, as in Tennyson's In Memoriam (1850): 'It was but unity of place / That made me dream I rank'd with him.' Compare the transitive verb, where someone else does the placing.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  2. 2
    order by meritverbtransitive
    To assign something a place in a class or order; to classify.

    Critics rank the film among the best of the decade.

    The agency ranks universities by their research output each year.

    UsageOften passive with among, as or with: ranked among the best, ranked as a classic.

    Similarrate, grade, classify, place, order

    Note

    Older uses lean toward sorting rather than scoring. Isaac Watts, in his Logick, writes of ranking all things under general and special heads, and heresy was once ranked with idolatry and witchcraft. Modern league tables put things in numbered order instead, closer to a place on a list.

  3. 3
    status levelnouncountable or uncountable
    A position or level within a hierarchy, such as the grades of authority in the military or a person's standing in a society divided into social classes.

    After a decade in the navy, she finally attained the rank of commander.

    Each rank in the police force carries distinct responsibilities and pay.

    UsageCommon patterns: hold the rank of commander, rise through the ranks from the bottom.

    Similargrade, level, position, standing, status

    Note

    Military language has carried over into any hierarchy. An officer holds the rank of commander, and a career that climbs from the bottom rises through the ranks, from mailroom clerk to CEO. Here the plural means steps on a ladder rather than a body of members, though rising through the ranks of a profession blurs the two.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  4. 4
    list positionnouncountable or uncountable
    The place held in a list ordered by some common measure, such as quality, popularity, population, or physical location.

    The city's rank by population rose after the latest census.

    A film's rank on the popularity chart can change from week to week.

    UsageAs a number: a rank of 23, class rank. As a grade, of the first rank means first-class, not literally first on a list.

    Similarposition, place, standing

  5. 5
    group of peoplenouncountable or uncountable
    A class or body of people, such as the members of a particular profession or organization.

    Several critics of the new law came from the ranks of retired judges.

    After ten years in the classroom, he left the teaching ranks to open a bakery.

    UsageUsually plural with of: the ranks of retired judges, join the ranks of nurses, from their own ranks.

    Similarcorps

  6. 6
    row (soldiers)nouncountable or uncountable
    A row of people or things arranged side by side in a grid, often soldiers.

    The front rank of infantry knelt while those behind them fired.

    Workers planted the seedlings in neat ranks across the field.

    Similarrow, line

    Oppositefile

    Note

    The meaning closest to the word's origin comes from Old French ranc, rang, 'line, row', which in turn came from a Frankish word for a ring. A rank runs side by side, and its opposite, a file, runs front to back. In drill, the front rank and second rank take turns firing, and troops may advance in ranks or straggle out in clusters.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The row sense preserves the meaning of Old French ranc, rang and derives ultimately from a Frankish word meaning “ring”. en.wiktionary.org
    • A military rank consists of people standing side by side. en.wikipedia.org
    • A military file consists of people positioned one behind another. en.wikipedia.org
    • Drill includes firing by alternating front and rear ranks. drillnet.net
    • Troops can advance in ranks. gutenberg.org
    • Troops can lose formation and gather in irregular groups. gutenberg.org
  7. 7
    taxi standnouncountablechiefly UK
    A spot set aside for taxis to line up and wait until passengers come to hire them.

    After the match, the queue at the taxi rank stretched round the corner.

    Black cabs pulled into the rank one after another as the last train came in.

    Similarstand

    Note

    This is chiefly a British use, and it nearly always comes in the compound taxi rank; the bare word works once cabs are already the topic. It fits because it keeps the word's oldest idea, a line: it came through Old French ranc, "line, row", like the soldiers' row, and a rank is where taxis wait one behind another.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 8–9, 16–21

Old English ranc ("proud, haughty, showy, bold, strong") gave Middle English rank ("strong, proud"). Earlier stages are Proto-West Germanic and Proto-Germanic *rankaz ("straight"), and ultimately a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "straight, direct." Dutch rank ("slender"), Danish rank ("straight, erect") and Swedish rank ("slender, shaky") are related.

Meanings 1–7, 10–15

Proto-Germanic *hringaz ("something bent or curved") gave Frankish *hring ("ring"), which became Old French ranc, rang or reng ("line, row, rank"). Middle English took it as rank ("line, row"). Old English hring ("ring") is related. Rank is a doublet of both ring and rink.