rank

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See also ránk, and ränk

Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English rank (“strong, proud”), from Old English ranc (“proud, haughty, arrogant, insolent, forward, overbearing, showy, ostentatious, splendid, bold, valiant, noble, brave, strong, full-grown, mature”), from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“straight, direct”). Cognate with Dutch rank (“slender, slim”), Low German rank (“slender, projecting, lank”), Danish rank (“straight, erect, slender”), Swedish rank (“slender, shaky, wonky”), Icelandic rakkr (“straight, slender, bold, valiant”).

Adjective [edit]

rank (comparative ranker or more rank, superlative rankest or most rank)

  1. (obsolete) Strong; powerful; capable of acting or being used with great effect; energetic; vigorous; headstrong.
  2. Strong of its kind or in character; unmitigated; virulent; thorough; utter.
    rank treason / rank nonsense
  3. Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.
  4. Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
    • 1899, Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, section 1
      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 [...]
  5. Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
  6. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
  7. Having a very strong and bad taste or odor.
    Your gym clothes are rank, bro’ – when d’you last wash ’em?
  8. (informal) Gross, disgusting.
  9. Complete, used as an intensifier (usually negative, referring to incompetence).
    I am a rank amateur as a wordsmith.
    • 2011 March 1, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2 - 1 Man Utd”, BBC:
      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.
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
Having a very strong and bad odor
Highly offensive; disgusting

Adverb [edit]

rank (comparative more rank, superlative most rank)

  1. (obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:
      The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, / And ayme at him, fell flat to ground for feare [...].
    • Fairfax
      That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.

Etymology 2 [edit]

Middle English rank (“line, row”), from Old French reng, rang, ranc (“line, row, rank”) (Modern French rang), from Frankish hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“something bent or curved”), which is of uncertain origin.

Akin to Old High German (h)ring, Old Frisian hring, Old English hring, hrincg (“ring”) (Modern English ring), Old Norse hringr (“ring, circle, queue, sword; ship”). More at ring.

Noun [edit]

rank (plural ranks)

  1. A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers [the corresponding term for the perpendicular columns in such a pattern is "file"].
    The front rank kneeled to reload while the second rank fired over their heads.
    • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, The Dust of Conflict[1]:
      Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs […] .
  2. (chess) one of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard [the corresponding term for a vertical line is "file"].
  3. (music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
  4. One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality
    Based on your test scores, you have a rank of 23.
    The fancy hotel was of the first rank.
  5. The level of one's position in a class-based society
  6. a level in an organization such as the military
    Private First Class (PFC) is the lowest rank in the Marines.
    He rose up through the ranks of the company from mailroom clerk to CEO.
  7. (taxonomy) a level in a scientific taxonomy system
    Phylum is the taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.
  8. (linear algebra) maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix or determinant.
  9. The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor (mathematics).
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers
One of the horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard
position of a person, place, thing, or idea in relation to others based on a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality
a level in an organization such as the military
The lines or rows of people in an organization
maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix
In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb [edit]

rank (third-person singular simple present ranks, present participle ranking, simple past and past participle ranked)

  1. to give a person, place, thing, or idea a rank
    Their defense ranked third in the league.
Translations [edit]
to give a person, place, thing, or idea a rank

Anagrams [edit]

Dutch [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle Dutch ranc, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz.[1]

Adjective [edit]

rank (comparative ranker, superlative rankst)

  1. slender, svelte
Declension [edit]
Declension of rank
positive comparative superlative
attributive predicative/adverbial
predicative/adverbial rank ranker
neuter
singular		 indefinite rank ranker
definite ranke rankere rankste rankst, rankste
common singular ranke rankere rankste rankste
plural ranke rankere rankste rankste
partitive ranks rankers

Etymology 2 [edit]

Noun [edit]

rank f, m (??? please provide the plural!, ??? please provide the diminutive!)

  1. tendril, a thin winding stem;

Anagrams [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ J. de Vries & F. de Tollenaere, "Etymologisch Woordenboek", Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, Utrecht, 1986 (14de druk)
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