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rank and file
rank and file
noun
- the ordinary soldiers of an army, excluding the officers
- the great mass or majority of any group or organization, as opposed to the leadership
- modifier of, relating to, or characteristic of the rank and file
rank-and-file support
rank-and-file opinion
rank and file
- The people who form the major portion of any group or organization, excluding the leaders: “The rumors of corruption at the top disturbed the party's rank and file.” This phrase comes from military usage, where enlisted men march in ranks (close abreast) and files (one behind another), whereas officers march outside these formations.
Derived Forms
- rank and filer, noun
Other Words From
- rank-and-file adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of rank and file1
Idioms and Phrases
Followers, the general membership, as in This new senator really appeals to the rank and file in the labor unions . This expression comes from the military, where a rank denotes soldiers standing side by side in a row, and file refers to soldiers standing behind one another. The first recorded figurative use of this term was in 1860.Example Sentences
Asked what kind of support he got from rank-and-file Democrats, he paused before replying with a hearty laugh.
Rank-and-file conservatives by and large do not share these extreme anti-equality, anti-abortion, anti-women attitudes.
Some rank-and-file evangelicals may have switched their position or even advocated for reform.
In recent Republican congressional primaries, the rank-and-file has voted “no” to reflexive interventionism.
Party leaders backed McMorris Rodgers; the conservative rank-and-file supported Price.
Most ominous feature of it all, republicanism gained a large footing in the rank-and-file of the army.
For the leaders, it may last a little longer than for the rank-and-file.
They were followed by the great bulk of the rank-and-file of so-called Jewish Socialists.
During the Crimean War, he took care of the fame of the rank-and-file of the army.
The losses on our side consisted of a colonel killed, and seventy-four rank-and-file wounded.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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