Entry Word: rank

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 the placement of someone or something in relation to others in a vertical arrangement <attained the highest rank in Boy Scouting>

Synonyms degree, footing, level, place, position, ranking, situation, standing, station, status

Related Words condition, echelon, estate, order, walk; capacity, function; rating

2 high position within society <was born a woman of rank who socialized only with other members of the elite>

Synonyms class, dignity, quality, standing

Related Words gentility, gentleness, nobility, nobleness; grandness, highness, loftiness; distinction, precedence, preeminence, primacy; caste, position, station, status; preferment

Near Antonyms debasement, degradation; subordinateness, subordination; baseness, commonness, inferiority, lowliness, lowness

3 a series of people or things arranged side by side <rank upon rank of cavalry came thundering down the hill> — see row 1
4 usually ranks pluralone of the units into which a whole is divided on the basis of a common characteristic <this book will someday join the ranks of the worldʼs great novels> — see class 2