rank
pronunciation
How to pronounce rank in British English:
UK [ræŋk]
How to pronounce rank in American English:
US [ræŋk]
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- Noun:
- a row or line of people (especially soldiers or police) standing abreast of one another
- relative status
- the ordinary members of an organization (such as the enlisted soldiers of an army)
- position in a social hierarchy
- the body of members of an organization or group
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- Verb:
- take or have a position relative to others
- assign a rank or rating to
- take precedence or surpass others in rank
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- Adjective:
- very fertile; producing profuse growth
- very offensive in smell or taste
- conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
- complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers
- growing profusely
Word Origin
- rank
- rank: English has two words rank. The one meaning ‘row, line’ [16], and hence ‘position of seniority’, was borrowed from Old French ranc (source also of English range), which goes back via Frankish *hring to a prehistoric Germanic *khrengaz ‘circle, ring’ (ancestor of English ring). Rank ‘absolute, downright’ [OE], as in ‘rank bad manners’, has had an eventful semantic history.It originally meant ‘haughty’ and ‘full-grown’, and came from a prehistoric Germanic *rangkaz, which also produced Old Norse rakkr ‘erect’. ‘Full-grown’ evolved via ‘growing vigorously, luxuriant’ (which still survives) into ‘gross, disgusting’, on which the present-day intensive usage is based.=> range, ring
- rank (v.)
- 1570s, "arrange in lines;" 1590s, "put in order, classify; assign a rank to," from rank (n.). Related: Ranked; ranking.
- rank (n.)
- early 14c., "row, line series;" c. 1400, a row of an army, from Old French renc, ranc "row, line" (Modern French rang), from Frankish *hring or some other Germanic source (compare Old High German hring "circle, ring"), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz "circle, ring, something curved" (see ring (n.1)). Meaning "a social division, class of persons" is from early 15c. Meaning "high station in society" is from early 15c. Meaning "a relative position" is from c. 1600.
- rank (adj.)
- Old English ranc "proud, overbearing, showy," from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (cognates: Danish rank "right, upright," German rank "slender," Old Norse rakkr "straight, erect"), perhaps from PIE *reg- "to stretch, straighten" (see right (adj.)). In reference to plant growth, "vigorous, luxuriant, abundant, copious" it is recorded from c. 1300. Related: Rankly; rankness. Sense evolved in Middle English to "large and coarse" (c. 1300), then, via notion of "excessive and unpleasant," to "corrupt, loathsome, foul" (mid-14c.), perhaps from influence of Middle French rance "rancid." In 17c. also "lewd, lustful." Much used 16c. as a pejorative intensive (as in rank folly). This is possibly the source of the verb meaning "to reveal another's guilt" (1929, underworld slang), and that of "to harass, abuse," 1934, U.S. black dialect, though this also may be from the role of the activity in establishing social hierarchy (from rank (n.)).
Example
- 1. Red appears to signal rank in virtually all cultures .
- 2. He holds the rank of captain .
- 3. The view into top management from the rank and file was just as obscure , benioff knew .
- 4. The gene activity that changed the most depending on social rank was what controlled inflammation .
- 5. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference .