Word.ws English Dictionary

ranker

Syllables: ran·kerUK/ˈɹæ̞ŋkə//ˈɹæ̝ŋkɚ/

ranker is the comparative form of rank.

Noun

ranker (countable and uncountable, plural rankers)

  1. (countable) One who ranks things, or arranges them in ranks.
  2. A kind of soil developed over non-calcareous material, usually rock.
  3. (countable) A common soldier.
  4. (countable) One with a specified rank.
    • But the difference between the first ranker Maharashtra and the second ranker Tamil Nadu was so sharp that Tamil Nadu's value added was just 40 per cent of that of Maharashtra.2002, M. Naganthan, Tamil Nadu economy: trends and prospects, page 259
    • Mike, as an adult chimpanzee, was a low ranker.2011, Derek Ellis, Sex, Food and Rank: In Humans and Animals, page 54

Meaning of rank

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker or more rank, superlative rankest or most rank)

  1. (obsolete) Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.
    • rank grass
  2. (obsolete) Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
    • rank land
  3. (obsolete) Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
    • The moon had spread over everything a thin layer of silver—over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple […]1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I
  4. (obsolete) Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
  5. (informal, obsolete) Gross, disgusting, foul.
  6. (obsolete) Headstrong; difficult to control.
    • If Safford happens to be driving a "rank" horse, one that insists on getting away fast, he goes along with the rest, […]1949, The New Yorker (volume 25, part 3, page 46)

See all 28 meanings of rank

Forms of ranker

pluralrankers

Origin of ranker

From rank + -er (comparative suffix).

From rank + -er (agent noun suffix).

Words formed from ranker

Words that rhyme with ranker

6 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ranker

What does ranker mean?
Ranker means one who ranks things, or arranges them in ranks.
What is ranker the comparative form of?
Ranker is the comparative form of rank.
What part of speech is ranker?
Ranker is a noun.
How do you pronounce ranker?
Ranker is pronounced /ˈɹæ̞ŋkə/ (UK).
What is the plural of ranker?
The plural of ranker is rankers.

Words near ranker in the dictionary

  1. rankees
  2. ranken
  3. rankened
  4. rankening
  5. rankens
  6. ranker
  7. rankers
  8. rankes
  9. rankest
  10. ranket
  11. ranketh

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ranker (page history and authors); rank (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-ranker.wav.

Cite this entry: “ranker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ranker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.