order meaning and definition

ORDER noun

Definition of order (noun)

1. (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed
   • "the British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London"
2. a degree in a continuum of size or quantity
   • "it was on the order of a mile"; "an explosion of a low order of magnitude"
   • synonyms: order of magnitude
3. established customary state (especially of society)
   • "order ruled in the streets"; "law and order"
   • antonym: disorder
4. logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements
   • "we shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation"
   • synonyms: ordering, ordination
5. a condition of regular or proper arrangement
   • "he put his desk in order"; "the machine is now in working order"
   • synonyms: orderliness
   • antonym: disorder
6. a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge)
   • "a friend in New Mexico said that the order caused no trouble out there"
   • synonyms: decree, edict, fiat, rescript
7. a commercial document used to request someone to supply something in return for payment and providing specifications and quantities
   • "IBM received an order for a hundred computers"
   • synonyms: purchase order
8. a formal association of people with similar interests
   • "he joined a golf club"; "they formed a small lunch society"; "men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today"
   • synonyms: club, gild, guild, lodge, social club, society
9. a body of rules followed by an assembly
   • synonyms: parliamentary law, parliamentary procedure, rules of order
10. (usually plural) the status or rank or office of a Christian clergyman in an ecclesiastical hierarchy
    • "theologians still disagree over whether `bishop' should or should not be a separate Order"
    • synonyms: Holy Order
11. a group of person living under a religious rule
    • "the order of Saint Benedict"
    • synonyms: monastic order
12. (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families
13. a request for something to be made, supplied, or served
    • "I gave the waiter my order"; "the company's products were in such demand that they got more orders than their call center could handle"
14. (architecture) one of original three styles of Greek architecture distinguished by the type of column and entablature used or a style developed from the original three by the Romans
15. the act of putting things in a sequential arrangement
    • "there were mistakes in the ordering of items on the list"
    • synonyms: ordering

ORDER verb

Definition of order (verb)

1. give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority
   • "I said to him to go home"; "She ordered him to do the shopping"; "The mother told the child to get dressed"
   • synonyms: enjoin, say, tell
2. make a request for something
   • "Order me some flowers"; "order a work stoppage"
3. issue commands or orders for
   • synonyms: dictate, prescribe
4. bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
   • "We cannot regulate the way people dress"; "This town likes to regulate"
   • synonyms: govern, regularise, regularize, regulate
   • antonym: deregulate
5. bring order to or into
   • "Order these files"
   • antonym: disarray
6. place in a certain order
   • "order the photos chronologically"
7. appoint to a clerical posts
   • "he was ordained in the Church"
   • synonyms: consecrate, ordain, ordinate
8. arrange thoughts, ideas, temporal events
   • "arrange my schedule"; "set up one's life"; "I put these memories with those of bygone times"
   • synonyms: arrange, put, set up
9. assign a rank or rating to
   • "how would you rank these students?"; "The restaurant is rated highly in the food guide"
   • synonyms: grade, place, range, rank, rate