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Benchmark vs Rank - What's the difference?

benchmark | rank |

As a noun benchmark

is a standard by which something is evaluated or measured.

As a verb benchmark

is to measure the performance of (an item) relative to another similar item in an impartial scientific manner.

As an adjective rank is

heavy, serious, grievous.

benchmark

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A standard by which something is evaluated or measured.
  • * 2013 , Martina Hyde, Is the pope Catholic?'' (in ''The Guardian , 20 September 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/20/is-pope-catholic-atheists-gay-people-abortion]
    • Is the pope Catholic? Forgive the posing of a question that is usually rhetorical, the absolute benchmark of certainty, and traditionally regarded as even more settled than the one pertaining to the lavatorial arrangements of bears.
  • A surveyor's mark made on some stationary object and shown on a map; used as a reference point.
  • (computing) A computer program that is executed to assess the performance of the runtime environment.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To measure the performance of (an item) relative to another similar item in an impartial scientific manner.

    • References

    rank

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

  • Strong of its kind or in character; unmitigated; virulent; thorough; utter.
  • Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.
  • * Bible, (w) xli. 5
    • And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
    • , title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.}}
  • Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
  • * 1899 , (Joseph Conrad),
    • 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
  • Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
    • (Mortimer)
  • Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
  • Having a very strong and bad taste or odor.
  • * (Robert Boyle) (1627-1691)
    • Divers sea fowls taste rank of the fish on which they feed.
  • Complete, used as an intensifier (usually negative, referring to incompetence).
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=March 1, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC
    • , title= Chelsea 2-1 Man Utd , passage=Chelsea remain rank outsiders to retain their crown and they still lie 12 points adrift of United, but Ancelotti will regard this as a performance that supports his insistence that they can still have a say when the major prizes are handed out this season.}}
  • (label) Gross, disgusting.
  • (label) Strong; powerful; capable of acting or being used with great effect; energetic; vigorous; headstrong.
  • (label) Inflamed with venereal appetite.
    • (Shakespeare)
    Synonyms
    * (bad odor) stinky, smelly ** See also: pong (UK) * (complete) complete, utter

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iii:
    • The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke , / And ayme at him, fell flat to ground for feare [...].
  • * Fairfax
    • That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) , which is of uncertain origin. Akin to (etyl) . More at (ring).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers [the corresponding term for the perpendicular columns in such a pattern is "file"].
    • The front rank''' kneeled to reload while the second '''rank fired over their heads.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
    • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=7 citation , passage=Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs
  • # (chess) one of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard [the corresponding term for a vertical line is "file"].
  • (music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
  • One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality
    • Based on your test scores, you have a rank of 23.
    The fancy hotel was of the first rank.
  • (class)The level of one's position in a class-based society
  • a level in an organization such as the military
    • Private First Class (PFC) is the lowest rank in the Marines.
    He rose up through the ranks of the company from mailroom clerk to CEO.
  • (taxonomy) a level in a scientific taxonomy system
    • Phylum is the taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.
  • (linear algebra) Maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix.
  • The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor (mathematics).
  • (chess) one of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those which run from letter to letter). The analog vertical lines are the files .
    • Derived terms
    * break rank * close ranks * pull rank

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To place abreast, or in a line.
  • To have a ranking.
    • Their defense ranked third in the league.
  • To assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify.
  • * I. Watts
    • Ranking all things under general and special heads.
  • * Broome
    • Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers.
  • * Dr. H. More
    • Heresy is ranked with idolatry and witchcraft.
  • (US) To take rank of; to outrank.

    • Anagrams

    * * * English intensifiers ----