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What is the difference between rank and degree?

rank | degree |

As nouns the difference between rank and degree

is that rank is 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"] while degree is a step on a set of stairs; the rung of a ladder.

As an adjective rank

is strong of its kind or in character; unmitigated; virulent; thorough; utter.

As an adverb rank

is quickly, eagerly, impetuously.

As a verb rank

is to place abreast, or in a line.

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 ----

    degree

    English

    (wikipedia degree)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete, outside, heraldry) A step on a set of stairs; the rung of a ladder.
  • An individual step, or stage, in any process or scale of values.
  • A stage of rank or privilege; social standing.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Luke XX:
    • Master, we knowe that thou sayest, and teachest ryght, nether considerest thou eny mannes degre , but techest the waye of god truely.
  • (genealogy) A ‘step’ in genealogical descent.
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, page 140:
    • Louis created the École militaire in Paris in 1751, in which 500 scholarships were designated for noblemen able to prove four degrees of noble status.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) :
    • If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree , some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
  • The amount that an entity possesses a certain property; relative intensity, extent.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}
  • A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university or, in some countries, a college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the United States, can include secondary schools.)
  • (geometry) A unit of measurement of angle equal to 1/360 of a circle's circumference.
  • (physics) A unit of measurement of temperature on any of several scales, such as Celsius or Fahrenheit.
  • (mathematics) The sum of the exponents of a term; the order of a polynomial.
  • (graph theory) The number of edges that a vertex takes part in; a valency.
  • (surveying) The curvature of a circular arc, expressed as the angle subtended by a fixed length of arc or chord.

    • Synonyms

    * (unit of angle) * (unit of temperature)

    Derived terms

    * academic degree * advanced degree * bachelor's degree * degree Celsius * degree centigrade * degree days * degree of frost * degree Fahrenheit * first degree burn * master's degree * second degree burn

    Coordinate terms

    * (l)

    Usage notes

    * A person who is engaged in a course of study leading to the earning of a degree can be described (in the present progressive tense) as "doing a degree" in British English, and as "getting a degree" in American English. For example, in American English, "She is currently getting''' her master's degree at State University."'' In British English, ''"I am still confused about when to use 'an' instead of 'a'. Is it an hour or a hour, and if someone is '''doing a master's degree in arts, is it an MA or a MA?" ( Ask Oxford.Com - Ask the Experts - Frequently Asked Questions (Grammar)).

    Statistics

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