rank

noun (POSITION)

/ræŋk/

Definition

C1 [C or U] a position in an organization, such as the army, showing the importance of the person having it: senior/high/junior/low rank He has just been promoted to the rank of captain. Ministers of cabinet rank receive a higher salary than other ministers. Having a large income is one of the advantages of rank (= high position).Position and status in groups and organizations › [C or U] a particular position, higher or lower than others: He's in the front/first rank of (= one of the best) international tennis players. Consumer preferences were placed in rank order from 1 to 5.Quality and standard ranks [plural] › the members of a group or organization: Party ranks have swelled by nearly 300,000. Marty has joined the ranks of the (= become) unemployed. The party leadership seems to be losing support in the ranks.Groups of people rise from/through the ranks › to be moved up from a low level position in an organization to a higher one: He rose through the ranks to become a general. He joined the company in 2008 and has been rising through the ranks ever since.Promoting, demoting and transferring staff

(Definition of rank noun (POSITION) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)