range

From Middle English rengen, from Old French rengier (“to range, to rank, to order,”), from the noun renc, reng, ranc, rang (“a rank, row”), from Frankish *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring, circle, curve”).

• IPA^(key): /ɹeɪnd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪnd͡ʒ

range (plural ranges)

1. A line or series of mountains, buildings, etc.
2. A fireplace; a fire or other cooking apparatus; now specifically, a large cooking stove with many hotplates.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 281:

     Therein an hundred raunges weren pight, / And hundred fournaces all burning bright; / By euery fournace many feendes did byde, / Deformed creatures, horrible in ſight, / And euery feend his buſie paines applyde, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tryde.

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[A Supplement of Fables […].] Fab[le] CCCCXXXVIII. A Fool and a Hot Iron.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 415:

     There was juſt ſuch another Innocent as this, in my Fathers Family : He did the Courſe Work in the Kitchin, and was bid at his firſt Coming to take off the Range, and let down the Cynders before he went to Bed.

3. Selection, array.

   We sell a wide range of cars.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎:

     But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.

   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

4. An area for practicing shooting at targets.
5. An area for military training or equipment testing.

   Synonyms: base, training area, training ground

6. The distance from a person or sensor to an object, target, emanation, or event.

   Synonyms: distance, radius

   We could see the ship at a range of five miles.

   One can use the speed of sound to estimate the range of a lightning flash.

7. The maximum distance or reach of capability (of a weapon, radio, detector, etc.).

   This missile's range is 500 kilometres.

8. The distance a vehicle (e.g., a car, bicycle, lorry, or aircraft) can travel without refueling.

   This aircraft's range is 15 000 kilometres.

9. An area of open, often unfenced, grazing land.
   • 1970, James Taylor (lyrics and music), “Sweet Baby James”, in Sweet Baby James, →OCLC:

     There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range / His horse and his cattle are his only companions

10. The extent or space taken in by anything excursive; compass or extent of excursion; reach; scope.
    • 1661, John Fell, The Life of The most Learned, Reverend and Pious D^r H. Hammond, 2nd edition, London: J. Flesher, published 1662, page 99:

      As to acquir’d habits and abilities in Learning, his Writings having given the World ſufficient account of them, there remains onely to obſerve, that the range and compaſs of his knowledge fill’d the whole Circle of the Arts, and reach’d thoſe ſeverals which ſingle do exact an entire man unto themſelves, and full age.

    • 1711 December 22, Joseph Addison, “The Spectator”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, volume III, London: Jacob Tonson, published 1721, page 255:

      For we may further obſerve that men of the greateſt abilities are moſt fired with ambition : and that, on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the leaſt actuated by it ; whether it be that a man’s ſenſe of his own incapacities makes him deſpair of coming at fame, or that he has not enough range of thought to look out for any good which does not more immediately relate to his intereſt or convenience, or that Providence, in the very frame of his ſoul, would not ſubject him to ſuch a paſſion as would be uſeleſs to the world, and a torment to himſelf.

    • 1733–34, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, London: J. and P. Knapton, published 1748, epistle I, lines 207–210, page 29:

      Far as Creation’s ample range extends, / The ſcale of Senſual, Mental pow’rs aſcends : / Mark how it mounts, to Man’s imperial race, / From the green myriads in the peopled graſs !

11. (mathematics) The set of values (points) which a function can obtain.

    Antonym: domain

12. (statistics) The length of the smallest interval which contains all the data in a sample; the difference between the largest and smallest observations in the sample.
13. (sports, baseball) The defensive area that a player can cover.

    Jones has good range for a big man.

14. (music) The scale of all the tones a voice or an instrument can produce.

    Synonym: compass

15. (ecology) The geographical area or zone where a species is normally naturally found.
16. (programming) A sequential list of values specified by an iterator.

    std::for_each  calls the given function on each value in the input range.

17. An aggregate of individuals in one rank or degree; an order; a class.
    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC:

      The next Range of Beings above him are the pure and immaterial Intelligences , the next below him is the sensible Nature.

18. (obsolete) The step of a ladder; a rung.
    • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

      the first range of that ladder

19. (obsolete, UK, dialect) A bolting sieve to sift meal.
20. A wandering or roving; a going to and fro; an excursion; a ramble; an expedition.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:
      , "Taking Pleasure in Other Men's Sins"

      He may take a range all the world over.

21. (US, historical) In the public land system, a row or line of townships lying between two succession meridian lines six miles apart.
22. The variety of roles that an actor can play in a satisfactory way.

    By playing in comedies as well as in dramas he has proved his range as an actor.

    By playing in comedies as well as in dramas he has proved his acting range.

• (values a function can obtain): codomain

• (firing range): shooting gallery
• (radius): azimuth, elevation, inclination
• (cooking stove): oven

• Japanese: レンジ (​renji)
• Korean: 레인지 (reinji)

range (third-person singular simple present ranges, present participle ranging, simple past and past participle ranged)

1. (intransitive) To travel over (an area, etc); to roam, wander. [from 15th c.]
2. (transitive) To rove over or through.

   to range the fields

   • 1713, John Gay, Rural Sports:

     Teach him to range the ditch, and force the brake.

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To exercise the power of something over something else; to cause to submit to, over. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     The soule is variable in all manner of formes, and rangeth to her selfe, and to her estate, whatsoever it be, the senses of the body, and all other accidents.

4. (transitive) To bring (something) into a specified position or relationship (especially, of opposition) with something else. [from 16th c.]
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 22”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     At last we gained such an offing, that the two pilots were needed no longer. The stout sail-boat that had accompanied us began ranging alongside.

   • 1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Bag”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 76:

     In ranging herself as a partisan on the side of Major Pallaby Mrs. Hoopington had been largely influenced by the fact that she had made up her mind to marry him at an early date.

5. (intransitive) Of a variable, to be able to take any of the values in a specified range.

   The variable x ranges over all real values from 0 to 10.

   • 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184:

     In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter. Their densities range from that of styrofoam to iron.

   • 2023 November 1, Robert Drysdale, “Leven is nearly back on track...”, in RAIL, number 995, page 58:

     The 2025 timetable would feature two trains per hour, alternately routed via Kirkcaldy (with 11 intermediate stops) and Dunfermline (14 stops), with journey times ranging between 65 and 81 minutes.

6. (transitive) To classify.

   to range plants and animals in genera and species

   • 1785, William Coxe, Travels Into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, page 129:

     The coins are ranged into nine classes.

   • 2013, Hubert Kals, Fred van Houten, Integration of Process Knowledge into Design Support, page 378:

     All requirements could be ranged into the classes.

7. (intransitive) To form a line or a row.

   The front of a house ranges with the street.

   • 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night:

     The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms, / Amidst the soundless solitudes immense / Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.

8. (intransitive) To be placed in order; to be ranked; to admit of arrangement or classification; to rank.
   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     And range with humble livers in content.

9. (transitive) To set in a row, or in rows; to place in a regular line or lines, or in ranks; to dispose in the proper order.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Bible Maccabees/#12 2 Maccabees:12–20:

     Maccabeus ranged his army by hands.

   • 1740, George Turnbull, The Principles of Moral Philosophy, page 77:

     Were this dependence of the body and mind more studied, and its effects collected and ranged into proper order; no doubt, we would be able to form a better judgment of it, and see further into the good purposes to which it serves;

10. (transitive) To place among others in a line, row, or order, as in the ranks of an army; usually, reflexively and figuratively, to espouse a cause, to join a party, etc.
    • 1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], 10th edition, London: […] J. Owen, […], and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC:

      It would be absurd in me to range myself on the side of the Duke of Bedford and the corresponding society.

11. (biology) To be native to, or live in, a certain district or region.

    The peba ranges from Texas to Paraguay.

12. (military, of artillery) To determine the range to a target.
13. To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near.

    to range the coast

14. (baseball) Of a player, to travel a significant distance for a defensive play.
    • 2009, Jason Aronoff, Going, Going ... Caught!: Baseball's Great Outfield Catches as Described by Those Who Saw Them, 1887-1964, →ISBN, page 250:

      Willie, playing in left-center, raced toward a ball no human had any business getting a glove to. Mays ranged to his left, searching, digging in, pouring on the speed, as the crowd screamed its anticipation of a triple.

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:range.

• “range”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “range”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “range”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “range”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “range”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “range”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “range”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

• Agner, Negar, Regan, anger, areng, grane, regna, renga

Allegedly coined ex nihilo by Johannes Aavik in the 20th century.

range (genitive range, partitive ranget, comparative rangem, superlative kõige rangem)

1. strict

Unadapted borrowing from English range.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɑŋːe/, [ˈrɑ̝ŋːe̞]
• IPA^(key): /ˈrei̯ntsi/, [ˈre̞i̯nts̠i]
• Rhymes: -ɑŋːe, -eintsi
• Syllabification^(key): ran‧ge

range

1. (golf) range, shooting range (place to practice shooting)

   Synonyms: harjoittelualue, harjoitusalue

• The external locative cases (adessive, allative and ablative) are used when talking about location; for example, "at the range" is rangella.
• In writing, inflected after pronunciation 1:

• Audio

  (file)

range

1. inflection of ranger:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

• nager, régna

From the adjective rang and vrang.

range f (definite singular ranga, indefinite plural ranger, definite plural rangene)

1. the inside of a piece of clothing, but worn inside-out

   Antonym: rette

2. the trachea, due to it being the wrong pipe, as opposed to the oesophagus, when eating

range (present tense rangar, past tense ranga, past participle ranga, passive infinitive rangast, present participle rangande, imperative range/rang)

1. (transitive) to turn inside-out (e.g. a piece of clothing)

• ranga (a-infinitive)

• range seg inn på ein

range

1. definite singular of rang
2. plural of rang

• “range” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• ganer, garen, genar, grena, ragen, ragne, regna, renga

range

1. inflection of ranger:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. inflection of rangir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative