I. ˈraŋk, ˈraiŋk adjective
( often -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ranc overbearing, strong, brave, mature, ostentatious; akin to Middle Dutch & Middle Low German ranc tall and thin, slender, Old Norse rakkr straight, slender, bold, Old English riht right — more at right
1. chiefly dialect
a. : strong , mighty , powerful
b. : headlong , violent
2.
a. : luxuriant or vigorous in growth : grown to immoderate height : grown coarse
rank weeds
seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good — Gen 41:5 (Authorized Version)
among the forms of rank plant life common in the hot humidity … were great tree ferns — R.W.Murray
b. : covered with a vigorous growth especially of vegetation : producing luxuriantly : excessively rich and fertile
its garden was … rank , too thickly crowded with trees and bushes and plants — Rebecca West
3. : offensively gross or coarse : indecent , foul
objected to his rank language
4. obsolete : grown too large : gross , swollen
5. chiefly dialect
a. : crowded together
b. : numerous
6.
a. : conspicuously or shockingly poor, stupid, or wrong
must lecture him on his rank disloyalty — David Walden
b. : complete — used as an intensive
that is … the opinion of a rank outsider — G.W.Johnson
most of the actors were not big names, but rank beginners — Dean Jennings
7. archaic
a. : filled with lust
b. : ruttish
the ewes, being rank , in the end of autumn turned to the rams — Shakespeare
8. : offending with or as if with a strong rancid odor or taste : having a heavy offensive smell
wreathed in smoke from a rank cigar — Ralph Watson
the heat seemed to purify the rank air — Willa Cather
9. : marked by putridity : corrupt , festering
the rank wounds of the dying men
10. : unreasonably high in amount : excessive
a rank modus
a rank rate of interest
11. : projecting to an unusual extent beyond a surface
Synonyms: see flagrant
II. adverb
: rankly
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French renc, ranc, reng, rang line, place, row, rank, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German hring ring, circle, circle of warriors, meeting — more at ring
1.
a. : a straight row or line : range , series
a rank of marble pillars — Sax Rohmer
ranks of parcel lockers — Lewis Mumford
great pines, whose ranks climbed to the mountaintops — Agnes M. Cleaveland
b. : a series or set of organ pipes of the same construction and quality having one pipe for each digital
c. Britain : stand 6
a taxi at the rank just at the end of the street — Katherine Mansfield
2. : a row of people
the men and women … were standing in two separate ranks — Ivor Jones
3. : an orderly arrangement : array , formation
the company break ranks — Lafcadio Hearn
4.
a. : a line of soldiers ranged side by side in close order
armored ranks of men-at-arms — John Reed
— compare file
b. ranks plural : armed forces : army
c. ranks plural : the body of enlisted men
he rose from the ranks
5. : an aggregate of individuals classed together : a division of the social order — usually used in plural
excluded from the ranks of organized labor — Oscar Handlin
would consider any opportunity … provided it is in your executive ranks — Phoenix Flame
keep the ranks of fire fighters thin — Richard Ginder
6. : a row of squares extending horizontally across a chessboard
each player's pieces are placed on his first rank and his pawns on his second rank
7.
a. : a position or order in relation to others in a group : relative standing
occupied a particularly high rank among the dramas — Matthew Arnold
declining to consider him a novelist of the first rank — Granville Hicks
b. : a degree or position of dignity, eminence, or excellence : distinction
soon took rank as a leading attorney — J.D.Hicks
c. : high social position or standing
many of the institutions … maintained and emphasized the privileges of rank — Abram Kardiner
his distinction lay in office, not in rank — John Buchan
d. : a faculty position usually in an institution of higher learning
visiting lecturer in psychology … with rank of full professor — W.H.Hale
8. : a grade of official standing: as
a. : a grade in the armed forces
b. : a title of nobility
c. : a diplomatic or high government position
appointed with the rank of ambassador
office of cabinet rank
9.
a. : the standing of words in their mutual relations as qualified and qualifying terms
b. : the functioning of a word, word group, or clause as substantive, adjective, or adverb
10. : the order according to some statistical characteristic
11. : one of the classes or varieties of coal arranged in a series extending from lignite through bituminous to anthracite that indicates its thermal properties
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to arrange usually in lines : draw up in a regular formation
gazed lazily out a window above the ranked heads — William Faulkner
the battalion, perfectly ranked, listened to the citation
2. : to arrange in a row or pattern : place in order
the hills ranked with apple trees — John Dos Passos
the ranch and chuck wagons were ranked out of the weather — Luke Short
carefully ranked the little figurines along the mantlepiece
3. : to determine the relative position or merit of : classify , identify , rate
seldom given to ranking the concerns of others as high as his own — M.C.Bauer
were asked to rank the instructor — W.C.Allee
a population of 205,000 ranks the city third — Howell Walker
4. : to place properly or in order of priority among the claimants upon a bankrupt estate according to Scots law
5. : to take precedence of : outrank
the chairman ranks all other officers — A.J.Liebling
did not know who ranked whom in the new … setup — Newsweek
6. Scotland : to get ready — usually used with out
intransitive verb
1. : to form or move in ranks : take a place in a rank
2. : to become ranged in order or graded especially according to rank or merit : have a place or grade in an ascending series
English ranks as the most important and essential subject in the curriculum of our public schools — Education Digest
the artisan … ranks no doubt lower than the professional man — G.L.Dickinson
the profession of religion … ranks above all the other professions — Virginia Woolf
3. : to have a place among the list of claims or claimants upon a bankrupt estate
4. : to have the highest rank : be senior : be supremely eminent
ordered by the ranking head of the provincial government — Marjory S. Douglas
V. noun
1. : the number of linearly independent rows in a matrix
2. : face cord