Rankism

//ˈɹæŋkɪzəm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Abuse, discrimination, or exploitation based on rank. uncountable, usually

    "The grading system is behind most forms of overt rankism in the schools. Many people blame the school entrance examinations, saying that rankism cannot be eliminated as long as the so-called examination hell remains."

Example

More examples

"The grading system is behind most forms of overt rankism in the schools. Many people blame the school entrance examinations, saying that rankism cannot be eliminated as long as the so-called examination hell remains."

Etymology

From rank + -ism, probably by analogy with words like racism and sexism. It was coined by American physicist, author and social reformer Robert Works Fuller (1936–2025).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.