rank

English Online Dictionary. What means rank‎? What does rank mean?

Translingual

Symbol

rank

1. (mathematics) The symbol for rank.

English

Alternative forms

• ranck (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹæŋk/
• Rhymes: -æŋk

Etymology 1

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-West Germanic *rank, 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 rakkur (“straight, slender, bold, valiant”).

Adjective

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.
   1. Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.
      1. Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
      2. Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
   2. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
      1. Having a very strong and bad taste or odor.

         Synonyms: stinky, smelly, (UK) pongy
      2. (informal) Gross, disgusting, foul.
   3. (horse racing) Headstrong; difficult to control.
      • 1949, The New Yorker (volume 25, part 3, page 46)

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

2. (intensifier, negative) complete, unmitigated, utter.

   Synonyms: thorough, virulent
3. (obsolete) lustful; lascivious

Derived terms

• outrank
• ranken
• rankful

Translations

Adverb

rank (comparative more rank, superlative most rank)

1. (obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.

Etymology 2

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

Akin to Old High German (h)ring, Old Frisian hring, Old English hring, hrincg (“ring”), Old Norse hringr (“ring, circle, queue, sword; ship”). Doublet of ring and rink.

Noun

rank (countable and uncountable, plural ranks)

2. A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers.

   Antonym: file
4. (chess) One of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a number).

   Antonym: file

5. (music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
6. One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, popularity, or quality.

8. The level of one's position in a class-based society.
9. (typically in the plural) A category of people, such as those who share an occupation or belong to an organisation.
11. A hierarchical level in an organization such as the military.

12. (taxonomy) A level in a scientific taxonomy system.

13. (mathematics) The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor.
15. (linear algebra) The maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix.
16. (algebra) The maximum quantity of D-linearly independent elements of a module (over an integral domain D).
17. (mathematics) The size of any basis of a given matroid.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

1. To place abreast, or in a line.
2. To have a ranking.
3. To assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify.
4. (US) To take rank of; to outrank.

Derived terms

• misrank
• outrank

Translations

References

• “rank”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “rank”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• knar, ARNK, Karn, Kanr, kran, nark, karn

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɑŋk/
• Hyphenation: rank
• Rhymes: -ɑŋk

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch ranc, from Old Dutch *ranc, from Proto-West Germanic *rank, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz.

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker, superlative rankst)

1. slender, svelte

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch ranc, ranke, from Old Dutch *ranca, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], probably ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *hrinkwaną (“to curl, bend”). Cognate with Old High German hranca (German Ranke).

Noun

rank f (plural ranken, diminutive rankje n)

1. tendril, a thin winding stem
2. name of various vines
3. an object or ornamental pattern resembling a stem

Derived terms

References

References

Anagrams

• karn

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German rank, ranc, from Old Saxon *rank, from Proto-West Germanic *rank.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁaŋk/

Adjective

rank (strong nominative masculine singular ranker, comparative ranker, superlative am ranksten)

1. (poetic, dated, except in the phrase rank und schlank) lithe, lissome

Declension

Related terms

• rahn

Verb

rank

1. singular imperative of ranken

Further reading

• “rank” in Duden online
• “rank” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache