fourth-rate adjective 2noun 1forms 2 adjective2 •Terrible, awful; less than third-rate. •(UK, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 50–60 guns across two gun decks, a complement of 320–420, and weighing approximately 1,000 tons burthen. noun1 •(UK, historical) A fourth-rate ship of the line. formsfourth rates · fourth-rates
