sixth-rate adjective 2noun 1forms 2 adjective2 •(UK, historical) Of a Royal Navy warship in the Napoleonic Era: having 20–28 guns on one gun deck, a complement of 140–200, and weighing 340–550 tons burthen.The Navy classified warships by their number of cannons, and with twenty-eight, she was a sixth-rate–the lowest rank. — 2023 •Terrible, awful; less than fifth-rate. noun1 •(UK, historical) A sixth-rate warship. formssixth rates · sixth-rates
