order
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A legally binding command or decision entered on the court record.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
awrderSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɔɹdɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
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.”
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.”
countable
A request for some product or service; a commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods.
countable
A position in an arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
uncountable
The state of being well arranged.
A group of person living under a religious rule
verb
transitive
To request some product or service; to secure by placing an order.
To admit to holy orders; to ordain; to receive into the ranks of the ministry.
transitive
To issue a command to; to charge.
transitive
To set in some sort of order.
transitive
To arrange, set in proper order.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A request for some product or service; a commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods.
Used this way, order is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- decree , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Legallynoun
“A friend in New Mexico said that the order caused no trouble out there.”
Commandnoun
“The British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London.”
More ways to use order
- “The British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London.”noun
- “We shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation.”noun
- “He put his desk in order.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements.
Having a systematic arrangement.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Devoid of violence or disruption.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Parasites of worms.
Filamentous or rod-shaped bacteria.
In some classifications an alternative name for the Falconiformes.
An order of aquatic monocotyledonous herbaceous plants.
The animal order including amoebas.
The animal order including amoebas.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.