ranking

Pluralrankings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A person's or thing's position in a list relative to the others on it.

   His world ranking climbed to fifth after the tournament.

   Colleges spend heavily trying to improve their positions in the published rankings.

   Similarposition, standing, place, rating

   Note

   In the singular it is a position: his ranking, her world ranking. In the plural it usually names the list itself, as when Paul R. La Monica places Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg "third and fourth in the world's richest rankings." A person has a ranking, but appears in the rankings.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of rank.

   Analysts are ranking the candidates based on the latest polling data.

   Ranking employees against one another can damage team morale.

   Note

   Two constructions hide behind the one form. Transitive, it takes an object: the panel is ranking applicants. Intransitive, it means holding a place and takes none: a player ranking third in the world. As a gerund it keeps its object (ranking employees against one another). That separates it from the countable noun, which takes a plural, rankings, and an article instead.

3. 3
   adjective

   Superior in rank to the others present or involved; holding the most senior position in a group.

   The ranking officer at the scene ordered an immediate evacuation.

   After the ambassador's departure, she became the ranking diplomat at the embassy.

   Similarsenior, top

   Oppositejunior

   Note

   Without any qualifier, the word itself means senior. In Stephen Tanner's Afghanistan: A Military History (2002), Eldred Pottinger is "now the ranking political officer," the senior one left to negotiate. It sits directly before the noun, unlike the compound-forming use in high-ranking. Put a word in front of it and the meaning shifts from "the top one here" to "at a stated level."

4. 4
   adjective

   Prominent or outstanding among one's peers or among others of the same kind.

   He is widely regarded as a ranking authority on medieval manuscripts.

   The festival drew ranking performers from across the jazz world.

   Similarleading, foremost, eminent, prominent, preeminent

   Note

   The hierarchy here is reputation rather than command. Chiao-min Hsieh calls Hu-ho-hao-t'e and Pao-t'ou "the two ranking cities of Inner Mongolia," and Robert Christgau writes of "a ranking MC." Unlike the "most senior" meaning, it does not single out one person at the top. Two cities, or a whole field of performers, can be ranking at once.

5. 5
   adjectivein compounds

   Having a specified rank, usually indicated by a preceding word, as in high-ranking or third-ranking.

   Several high-ranking officials attended the closed-door meeting.

   He was the third ranking executive at the firm before the merger.

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