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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";
   - order of magnitude
    
3. Established customary state (especially of society)
   "order ruled in the streets"; "law and order"
    
4. Logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements
   "we shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation";
   - ordering, ordination
    
5. A condition of regular or proper arrangement
   "he put his desk in order"; "the machine is now in working order";
   - orderliness
    
6. (law) 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";
   - 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";
   - purchase order
    
8. A formal association of people with similar interests
   "men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today";
   - club, social club, society, guild, gild, lodge
    
9. A body of rules followed by an assembly
   - rules of order, parliamentary law, parliamentary procedure
    
10. A group of people living under a religious rule
    "the order of Saint Benedict";
    - monastic order
     
11. (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families
     
12. 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 centre could handle"
     
13. (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
     
14. The act of putting things in a sequential arrangement
    "there were mistakes in the order of items on the list";
    - ordering

1. Give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority
   "She ordered him to do the shopping";
   - tell, enjoin, say
    
2. Make a request for something
   "Order me some flowers"; "order a work stoppage"
    
3. Issue commands or orders for
   - prescribe, dictate
    
4. Bring into conformity with rules, principles or usage; impose regulations
   "We cannot order the way people dress";
   - regulate, regularize, regularise [Brit], govern
    
5. Bring order to or into
   "Order these files"
    
6. Place in a certain order
   "order the photos chronologically"
    
7. Appoint to a clerical post
   "he was ordered in the Church";
   - ordain, consecrate, ordinate
    
8. Organize thoughts, ideas, or temporal events
   "order my schedule";
   - arrange, set up, put
    
9. Assign a rank or rating to
   "The restaurant is ordered highly in the food guide";
   - rate, rank, range, grade, place

1. (usually plural) the status, 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";
   - Holy Order

Derived forms: ordering, orders, ordered

Type of: act, arrange, arrangement, artistic style, ask for, asking, association, bespeak, bid, bidding, bring down, call for, command, commercial document, commercial instrument, condition, decide, determine, dictation, enactment, enthrone, evaluate, idiom, impose, inflict, invest, judge, magnitude, make up one's mind, obtrude, organisation [Brit], organise [Brit], organization, organize, pass judgment, position, prescript, quest, religious order, religious sect, request, rule, sect, set up, state, status, taxon, taxonomic category, taxonomic group, vest, visit

Antonym: disorder, disorderliness

Part of: class

Encyclopedia: Order, Lawfulness, Justice