rank

comparative ranker · comparative more rank · superlative rankest · superlative most rank · alternative obsolete ranck

1. Strong; powerful; capable of acting or being used with great effect; energetic; vigorous; headstrong.
   1. obsoleteStrong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.

      rank grass

      3 more examples

      rank weeds

      And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 41:5

      The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.

      1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick

   2. obsoleteCausing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.

      rank land

      1 more example

      fow Sprat or Fullum Barley, which is the best for rank Land, because it doth not run ſo much to Straw

      1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC

   3. obsoleteSuffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.

      The moon had spread over everything a thin layer of silver—over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple […]

      1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I

   4. obsoleteStrong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
   5. informalobsoleteGross, disgusting, foul.
   6. obsoletehobbiesHeadstrong; difficult to control.

      If Safford happens to be driving a "rank" horse, one that insists on getting away fast, he goes along with the rest, […]

      1949, The New Yorker (volume 25, part 3, page 46)

2. Having a very strong, bad taste or odor.

   Your gym clothes are rank, bro – when'd you last wash 'em?

   1 more example

   Divers sea fowls taste rank of the fish on which they ordinarily feed.

   1661, Robert Boyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-physical Doubts & Paradoxes, […], London: […] J. Cadwell for J. Crooke, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: stinky, smelly, pongy, gamy

3. emphaticintensifiernegativecomplete, unmitigated, utter.

   rank treason

   4 more examples

   rank nonsense

   I am a rank amateur as a wordsmith.

   England's domination of the first half was almost total, but they somehow contrived to allow Tunisia to raise themselves off the floor by virtue of rank carelessness from [Gareth] Southgate's side.

   2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2019

   Chelsea remain rank outsiders to retain their crown and they still lie 12 points adrift of United, but Ancelotti will regard this as a performance that supports his insistence that they can still have a say when the major prizes are handed out this season.

   2011 March 1, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Man Utd”, in BBC

   Synonyms: thorough, virulent

4. obsoletelustful; lascivious

   the ewes being rank, In end of autumn turned to the rams

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

comparative more rank · superlative most rank · alternative obsolete ranck

1. obsoleteQuickly, eagerly, impetuously.

   That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.

   1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC

   1 more example

   The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, / And ayme at him, fell flat to ground for feare […].

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

plural ranks · alternative obsolete ranck

1. countableuncountableA row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers.

   The front rank kneeled to reload while the second rank fired over their heads.

   2 more examples

   The Musketeers being on both flancks, firſt firing let the Ranck ſtand, and fire every Ranck, paſſing through before his leader[…]

   1684, Richard Elton, The compleat body of the Art Military […] , 2nd edition, page 196

   Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs[…].

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   Antonyms: file

2. countableuncountableboard gamesOne of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a number).

   Antonyms: file

3. countableuncountablecard gamesThe value of a playing card.

   The ranks are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.

4. countableuncountableentertainmentIn a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
5. countableuncountableOne's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, popularity, or quality.

   The fancy hotel was of the first rank.

   1 more example

   Based on your test scores, you have a rank of 23.

6. countableuncountableThe level of one's position in a class-based society.

   Synonyms: condition

7. countableuncountabletypically in the pluralA category of people, such as those who share an occupation or belong to an organisation.

   a membership drawn from the ranks of wealthy European businessmen

   1 more example

   Earlier this month police in Norfolk were called after five hives thought to contain around 60,000 bees and £600 worth of honey were taken. [...] Suspicions among beekeepers that the culprits come from their own ranks were underlined by the fact that a bee smoker was left at the scene by someone who presumably knew that it could be used to calm the insects before taking them.

   2017 September 23, “From north Wales to Norfolk, distraught beekeepers ask: who’s stealing our hives?”, in The Observer

8. countableuncountableA hierarchical level in an organization such as the military.

   Private First Class (PFC) is the second-lowest rank in the Marines.

   1 more example

   He rose up through the ranks of the company, from mailroom clerk to CEO.

9. countableuncountablebiologyA level in a scientific taxonomy system.

   Phylum is the taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.

10. countableuncountablemathematicsThe dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor.
11. countableuncountablelinear algebraThe maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix.
12. countableuncountablealgebraThe maximum quantity of D-linearly independent elements of a module (over an integral domain D).
13. countableuncountablemathematicsThe size of any basis of a given matroid.

present singular third person ranks · participle present ranking · participle past ranked · past ranked · alternative obsolete ranck

1. transitiveTo place abreast or in a line.

   She [Diana] hath ſent (to plague vs) a huge ſauadge Boare, / Of an vn-meaſured height and magnitude. / […] / His briſtles poynted like a range of pikes / Ranck't on his backe: his foame ſnovves vvhere he feeds / His tuskes are like the Indian Oliphants.

   1613, Thomas Heywood, The Brazen Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature [C4], verso

2. intransitiveTo have a ranking.

   Their defense ranked third in the league.

   1 more example

   I vex my heart with fancies dim: / ⁠He still outstript me in the race; / ⁠It was but unity of place / That made me dream I rank’d with him.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 64

3. transitiveTo assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify.

   Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers.

   1725–1726, Homer, “(please specify the book or chapter of the Odyssey)”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   Ranking all things under general and special heads.

   1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC

   Heresy [is] ranked with idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, murders, and other sins of the flesh.

   1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC

   From time to time the coaches of the Lötschberg Railway itself, which in comfort and décor can rank with the finest in Europe today, travel far from the frontiers of Switzerland on through workings such as these.

   1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743

   Synonyms: place

4. UStransitiveTo take the rank of; to outrank.

1. A surname.