Word.ws English Dictionary

broke ranks

broke ranks is the simple past of break ranks.

Meaning of break ranks

Verb

break ranks (third-person singular simple present breaks ranks, present participle breaking ranks, simple past broke ranks, past participle broken ranks)

  1. To march or charge out of the designated order in a military unit.
  2. (idiomatic) To publicly disagree with one's own group or organization.

Questions about broke ranks

What is broke ranks the simple past of?
Broke ranks is the simple past of break ranks.

Words near broke ranks in the dictionary

  1. broke one's promise
  2. broke one's stride
  3. broke one's word
  4. broke open
  5. broke out
  6. broke ranks
  7. broke rigor
  8. broke shins
  9. broke someone's back
  10. broke someone's balls
  11. broke someone's face

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broke ranks (page history and authors); break ranks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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