power ranking

noun

plural power rankings

: a list of sports teams, players, or athletes ranked by strength, skill, or viability relative to others within the same sport, league, division, etc. according to various criteria

Almost every preseason power ranking lists the Saints last or next-to-last to last in the league.

—Jeff Duncan

—usually used in plural

The Big East regular-season champion Huskies remain atop our power rankings.

—Carl Adamec

Even at 2-2-2, Syracuse is ranked 31st in USA Today's power rankings.

—Tom Leo

Our Edmonton Oilers player power rankings are back. Twice a month throughout the schedule, we will be ordering players based on their contributions and value to the club, taking into account recent feats, statistics, failures and … intangibles.

—Gerry Moddejonge

also : a similar ranked list compiled outside of the context of sports

… Joe Budden has remained firmly atop the hip-hop media power rankings.

—Zachary Horvath

What we're offering here are the most definitive, conclusive and indisputable Beyoncé karaoke power rankings of all time. … One axis of these power rankings measures how challenging the song is to sing—from difficult to impossible. … The other axis measures how fun the song is to sing—from fun to super fun.

—Ada Tseng et al.

Examples of power ranking in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Power ranking moves No team jumped more in our Week 2 power rankings than Kansas City, while Denver tumbled after the blowout. — Jacob Robinson, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026

The Cowboys dropped in most power rankings, with many pundits reigniting concerns about the defense, which was one of the league’s worst last season. — Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above