range Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"
    ambit; reach; orbit; compass; scope.
    • a piano has a greater range than the human voice
    • the ambit of municipal legislation
    • within the compass of this article
    • within the scope of an investigation
    • outside the reach of the law
    • in the political orbit of a world power
  2. noun the limits within which something can be effective
    reach.
    • range of motion
    • he was beyond the reach of their fire
  3. noun a large tract of grassy open land on which livestock can graze
    • they used to drive the cattle across the open range every spring
    • he dreamed of a home on the range
  4. noun a series of hills or mountains
    mountain range; chain; mountain chain; range of mountains; chain of mountains.
    • the valley was between two ranges of hills
    • the plains lay just beyond the mountain range
  5. noun a place for shooting (firing or driving) projectiles of various kinds
    • the army maintains a missile range in the desert
    • any good golf club will have a range where you can practice
  6. noun a variety of different things or activities
    • he answered a range of questions
    • he was impressed by the range and diversity of the collection
  7. noun (mathematics) the set of values of the dependent variable for which a function is defined
    image; range of a function.
    • the image of f(x) = x^2 is the set of all non-negative real numbers if the domain of the function is the set of all real numbers
  8. noun the limit of capability
    grasp; reach; compass.
    • within the compass of education
  9. noun a kitchen appliance used for cooking food
    cooking stove; stove; kitchen stove; kitchen range.
    • dinner was already on the stove
  10. verb change or be different within limits
    run.
    • Estimates for the losses in the earthquake range as high as $2 billion
    • Interest rates run from 5 to 10 percent
    • The instruments ranged from tuba to cymbals
    • My students range from very bright to dull
  11. verb move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
    ramble; stray; cast; swan; drift; wander; tramp; rove; roam; vagabond; roll.
    • The gypsies roamed the woods
    • roving vagabonds
    • the wandering Jew
    • The cattle roam across the prairie
    • the laborers drift from one town to the next
    • They rolled from town to town
  12. verb have a range; be capable of projecting over a certain distance, as of a gun
    • This gun ranges over two miles
  13. verb range or extend over; occupy a certain area
    straddle.
    • The plants straddle the entire state
  14. verb lay out orderly or logically in a line or as if in a line
    lay out; array; set out.
    • lay out the clothes
    • lay out the arguments
  15. verb feed as in a meadow or pasture
    browse; pasture; graze; crop.
    • the herd was grazing
  16. verb let eat
    • range the animals in the prairie
  17. verb assign a rank or rating to
    grade; rank; rate; place; order.
    • how would you rank these students?
    • The restaurant is rated highly in the food guide

WordNet

Range transitive verb
Etymology
OE. rengen, OF. rengier, F. ranger, OF. renc row, rank, F. rang; of German origin. See Rane, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Ranged ; present participle & verbal noun Ranging
Definitions
  1. 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; to rank; as, to range soldiers in line.
    Maccabeus ranged his army by hands. 2 Macc. xii. 20.
  2. To place (as a single individual) among others in a line, row, or order, as in the ranks of an army; -- usually, reflexively and figuratively, (in the sense) to espouse a cause, to join a party, etc.
    It would be absurd in me to range myself on the side of the Duke of Bedford and the corresponding society. Burke.
  3. To separate into parts; to sift. Obs. Holland.
  4. To dispose in a classified or in systematic order; to arrange regularly; as, to range plants and animals in genera and species.
  5. To rove over or through; as, to range the fields.
    Teach him to range the ditch, and force the brake. Gay.
  6. To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near; as, to range the coast. ✍ Compare the last two senses (5 and 6) with the French ranger une côte.
  7. (Biol.) To be native to, or to live in; to frequent.
Range intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To rove at large; to wander without restraint or direction; to roam.
    Like a ranging spaniel that barks at every bird he sees. Burton.
  2. To have range; to change or differ within limits; to be capable of projecting, or to admit of being projected, especially as to horizontal distance; as, the temperature ranged through seventy degrees Fahrenheit; the gun ranges three miles; the shot ranged four miles.
  3. To be placed in order; to be ranked; to admit of arrangement or classification; to rank.
    And range with humble livers in content. Shak.
  4. To have a certain direction; to correspond in direction; to be or keep in a corresponding line; to trend or run; -- often followed by with; as, the front of a house ranges with the street; to range along the coast.
    Which way the forests range. Dryden.
  5. (Biol.) To be native to, or live in, a certain district or region; as, the peba ranges from Texas to Paraguay. Syn. -- To rove; roam; ramble; wander; stroll.
Range noun
Etymology
From Range, v.: cf. F. rangée.
Definitions
  1. A series of things in a line; a row; a rank; as, a range of buildings; a range of mountains.
  2. An aggregate of individuals in one rank or degree; an order; a class.
    The next range of beings above him are the immaterial intelligences. Sir M. Hale.
  3. The step of a ladder; a rung. Clarendon.
  4. A kitchen grate. Obs.
    He was bid at his first coming to take off the range, and let down the cinders. L'Estrange.
  5. Am extended cooking apparatus of cast iron, set in brickwork, and affording conveniences for various ways cooking; also, a kind of cooking stove.
  6. A bolting sieve to sift meal. Obs. or Prov. Eng.
  7. A wandering or roving; a going to and fro; an excursion; a ramble; an expedition.
    He may take a range all the world over. South.
  8. That which may be ranged over; place or room for excursion; especially, a region of country in which cattle or sheep may wander and pasture.
  9. Extent or space taken in by anything excursive; compass or extent of excursion; reach; scope; discursive; as, the range of one's voice, or authority.
    Far as creation's ample range extends. Pope.
    The range and compass of Hammond's knowledge filled the whole circle of the arts. Bp. Fell.
    A man has not enough range of thought. Addison.
  10. (Biol.) The region within which a plant or animal naturally lives.
  11. (Gun.) (a) The horizontal distance to which a shot or other projectile is carried. (b) Sometimes, less properly, the trajectory of a shot or projectile. (c) A place where shooting, as with cannons or rifles, is practiced.
  12. In the public land system of the United States, a row or line of townships lying between two succession meridian lines six miles apart. ✍ The meridians included in each great survey are numbered in order east and west from the "principal meridian" of that survey, and the townships in the range are numbered north and south from the "base line," which runs east and west; as, township No. 6, N., range 7, W., from the fifth principal meridian.
  13. (Naut.) See Range of cable, below.

Webster 1913