absolute vs rank

absolute

adj
  • Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative). 

  • Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers, or of all values of the variable; unconditional. 

  • Relating to the absolute temperature scale (based on absolute zero); kelvin. 

  • Free from imperfection, perfect, complete; especially, perfectly embodying a quality in its essential characteristics or to its highest degree. 

  • Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students. 

  • Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill". 

  • Independent of arbitrary units of measurement, standards, or properties; not comparative or relative. 

  • Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art. 

  • Free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions; unconditional. 

  • Pure, free from mixture or adulteration; unmixed. 

  • Indicating that a tenure or estate in land is not conditional or liable to terminate on (strictly) any occurrence or (sometimes contextually) certain kinds of occurrence. 

  • Fundamental, ultimate, intrinsic; not relative; independent of references or relations to other things or standards. 

  • Complete, utter, outright; unmitigated, not qualified or diminished in any way. 

  • Having reference to or derived in the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length. 

  • Unrestricted by laws, a constitution, or parliamentary or judicial or other checks; (legally) unlimited in power, especially if despotic. 

  • Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner, or not relating to or depending on it, like in the nominative absolute or genitive absolute, accusative absolute or ablative absolute. 

  • Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect". 

  • Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of particles or compounded with a preverb. 

  • Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry". 

  • Characteristic of an absolutist ruler: domineering, peremptory. 

  • Positive, certain; unquestionable; not in doubt. 

  • As measured using an absolute value. 

noun
  • A concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes; an alcoholic extract of a concrete. 

  • A realm which exists without reference to anything else; that which can be imagined purely by itself; absolute ego. 

  • In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity. 

  • That which exists (or has a certain property, nature, size, etc) independent of references to other standards or external conditions; that which is universally valid; that which is not relative, conditional, qualified or mitigated. 

  • The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced; the unity of spirit and nature; God. 

rank

adj
  • Strong of its kind or in character; unmitigated; virulent; thorough; utter (used of negative things). 

  • Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross. 

  • Complete, used as an intensifier (usually negative, referring to incompetence). 

  • Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome. 

  • Having a very strong and bad taste or odor. 

  • Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile. 

  • Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric. 

  • Gross, disgusting. 

noun
  • A hierarchical level in an organization such as the military. 

  • One of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a number). 

  • The maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix. 

  • The maximum quantity of D-linearly independent elements of a module (over an integral domain D). 

  • The size of any basis of a given matroid. 

  • One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality. 

  • The level of one's position in a class-based society. 

  • The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor. 

  • In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal. 

  • A level in a scientific taxonomy system. 

  • A category of people, such as those who share an occupation or belong to an organisation. 

  • A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers. 

verb
  • To have a ranking. 

  • To place abreast, or in a line. 

  • To take rank of; to outrank. 

  • To assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify. 

How often have the words absolute and rank occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )