What is the meaning of rank?

noun

• A row or line of people (especially soldiers or police) standing abreast of one another.
  • usage: "the entrance was guarded by ranks of policemen"
• Relative status.
  • usage: "his salary was determined by his rank and seniority"
• The ordinary members of an organization (such as the enlisted soldiers of an army. )
  • usage: "the strike was supported by the union rank and file"; "he rose from the ranks to become a colonel"
  • synonyms: rank and file
• Position in a social hierarchy.
  • usage: "the British are more aware of social status than Americans are"
  • synonyms: social station, social status, social rank
• The body of members of an organization or group.
  • usage: "they polled their membership"; "they found dissension in their own ranks"; "he joined the ranks of the unemployed"
  • synonyms: membership

verb

• Take or have a position relative to others.
  • usage: "This painting ranks among the best in the Western World"
• Assign a rank or rating to.
  • usage: "how would you rank these students"; "The restaurant is rated highly in the food guide"
  • synonyms: rate, range, order, grade, place
• Take precedence or surpass others in rank.
  • synonyms: outrank

adjective

• Very fertile; producing profuse growth.
  • usage: "rank earth"
• Very offensive in smell or taste.
  • usage: "a rank cigar"
• Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible.
  • usage: "a crying shame"; "an egregious lie"; "flagrant violation of human rights"; "a glaring error"; "gross ineptitude"; "gross injustice"; "rank treachery"
  • synonyms: crying, egregious, flagrant, glaring, gross
• Complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers.
  • usage: "absolute freedom"; "an absolute dimwit"; "a downright lie"; "out-and-out mayhem"; "an out-and-out lie"; "a rank outsider"; "many right-down vices"; "got the job through sheer persistence"; "sheer stupidity"
  • synonyms: absolute, downright, out-and-out, right-down, sheer
• Growing profusely.
  • usage: "rank jungle vegetation"