Top-ranking (8)
I believe the answer is:
superior
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">I believe this clue is a double definition.<br/ ><br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">top</span>' is the first definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(thesaurus)</span><br/ ><br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">ranking</span>' is the second definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I know that ranking can be written as superior)</span><br/ ><br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for superior that I've seen before include "Mother is sometimes" , "Better than, in a higher class" , "Higher ranking" , "head of monastery" , "Haughty" .)