rank and file
34
4.3
- noun
- /ræŋk ənd faɪl/
:
base
- The same problems that disturbed party leaders had their counterparts at the level of the rank-and-file.
- rank-and-file members
- rank-and-file workers
- leaders and rank-and-file
Trump retains strong support among rank and file GOP voters.
- Trump retains strong support among rank and file GOP voters.
- In June, rank and file UPS Teamsters authorized a strike.
- You know, sometimes you know, you know, rank and file will start a narrative about leadership.
- But I, I do think some rank and file will perhaps need to find new jobs.
- It was an article that influenced a lot of rank and file people at all.
- That's a much higher number that that's many millions of people and even the the rank and file.
- It's not the rank and file of the Democratic politician, even though they're too reluctant to condemn it.
Examples
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I'll take a guess here, but that is what I think many rank-and-file Pakistanis are afraid of.
Blog text (14) -
In June, rank and file UPS Teamsters authorized a strike.
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And we need the rank and file.
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We need the rank and file.
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Let us now turn to the duties of the rank and file members.
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In addition, many of our rank-and-file members have worked over the years in other organizations toward these ends.
Academic text (2000) -
The king asked me to pass his condolences to the rank and file of your police unit.
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Trump retains strong support among rank and file GOP voters.
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Many traditional Christian denominations disagree, though rank-and-file members have their own views on the matter.
Blog text (17) -
The rank and file members of the organization voiced their concerns during the meeting.
Synonyms
268
3.5
The ordinary members of a group who are not its leaders
Antonyms
How Senior
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both 'rank' and 'file' evoke positions or ordered lines within an organization, so there is a loose, interpretable link to membership and hierarchy. However, the specific idiomatic contrast with leaders — that it means 'ordinary members as opposed to leaders' — is a conventionalized sense not fully derivable from the parts, making the expression only partially predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Rank and file comes from old army lines: soldiers stood in ranks, meaning 'rows', and files, meaning 'columns', and the ordinary soldiers in those lines were not the leaders. So it now means 'the ordinary members' of an organization, not its leaders.