rank
noun
[ raŋk ]
• a position in the hierarchy of the armed forces.
• "an army officer of high rank"
• a single line of soldiers or police officers drawn up abreast.
• "they were drawn up outside their barracks in long ranks"
Similar:
row,
line,
file,
column,
series,
succession,
string,
train,
procession,
queue,
• the people belonging to or constituting a group or class.
• "the ranks of Britain's unemployed"
• the value or the order of the largest non-zero determinant of a given matrix.
rank
verb
• give (someone or something) a rank or place within a grading system.
• "students ranked the samples in order of preference"
Similar:
classify,
class,
categorize,
rate,
grade,
type,
order,
sort,
bracket,
group,
pigeonhole,
designate,
codify,
catalogue,
file,
list,
tabulate,
triage,
• arrange in a row or rows.
• "the tents were ranked in orderly rows"
Similar:
line up,
align,
draw up,
put/set in order,
order,
place,
position,
arrange,
dispose,
set out,
array,
range,
Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘row of things’): from Old French ranc, of Germanic origin; related to ring1.
rank
adjective
• (of vegetation) growing too thickly and coarsely.
• "clumps of rank grass"
Similar:
abundant,
lush,
luxuriant,
dense,
profuse,
flourishing,
exuberant,
vigorous,
productive,
spreading,
overgrown,
jungly,
• having a foul or offensive smell.
• "breathing rank air"
Similar:
offensive,
unpleasant,
nasty,
disagreeable,
revolting,
sickening,
obnoxious,
noxious,
foul-smelling,
evil-smelling,
fetid,
smelly,
stinking,
reeking,
reeky,
high,
off,
rancid,
putrid,
malodorous,
ill-smelling,
fusty,
musty,
stale,
niffy,
pongy,
whiffy,
humming,
noisome,
mephitic,
miasmic,
miasmal,
olid,
• (especially of something bad or deficient) complete and utter (used for emphasis).
• "rank stupidity"
Similar:
downright,
utter,
outright,
out-and-out,
absolute,
complete,
sheer,
stark,
thorough,
thoroughgoing,
categorical,
unequivocal,
undeniable,
unqualified,
unmodified,
unrestricted,
unmitigated,
unconditional,
positive,
simple,
wholesale,
all-out,
perfect,
consummate,
patent,
pure,
total,
entire,
flat,
direct,
dead,
final,
conclusive,
arrant,
right-down,
Origin:
Old English ranc ‘proud, rebellious, sturdy’, also ‘fully grown’, of Germanic origin. An early sense ‘luxuriant’ gave rise to ‘too luxuriant’, whence the negative connotation of modern usage.
keep rank
• (of soldiers or police officers) remain in line.
