ordernoun
uk/ˈɔː.dər/us/ˈɔːr.dɚ/order noun (REQUEST)
A2 [ C ] a request to make, supply, or deliver food or goods:
[ C ] a product or a meal that has been asked for by a customer:
If something is on order, you have asked for it but have not yet received it:
to do or make something especially for a person who has asked for it:
More examples
- I dictated my order over the phone.
- They decided not to honour an existing order for aircraft.
- A waiter hovered at the table, ready to take our order.
- All our customer orders are handled by computer.
- There's no logic in the decision to reduce staff when orders are the highest for years.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Bills & invoices
- bill
- billing
- charge
- chit
- claim form
- counterfoil
- credit note
- passbook
- payslip
- pro forma
- sales slip
- stamp
- tab
- tariff
- ticket
- ticketless
- toll
- tolled
- Treasury bond
- voucher
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order noun (ARRANGEMENT)
B1 [ U ] the way in which people or things are arranged, either in relation to one another or according to a particular characteristic:
More examples
- Give me the dates in chronological order.
- The names are published in alphabetical order.
- I shall list my objections to the plan in ascending order of importance.
- Keep your files in numerical order.
- She ranked the bottles in order of size along the shelf.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Order and sequence - general words
- alphabetize
- back end
- back end
- be a chapter of accidents idiom
- catalogue
- litany
- merry-go-round
- next
- nth
- penultimate
- run
- running
- sequential
- series
- succession
- thirdly
- timeline
- train
- vice versa
- wave
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order noun (INSTRUCTION)
B2 [ C often plural ] something that someone tells you you must do:
to have been told that you must do something by someone in authority:
[ C ] an official instruction telling someone what they can or cannot do, or a written instruction to a bank to pay money to a particular person
More examples
- I think it galls him to take orders from a younger and less experienced colleague.
- The soldiers listened in silence as their captain gave the orders.
- Don't blame me, I'm only carrying out my orders.
- The judge issued a gagging order to prevent the witnesses from speaking to the press.
- We were sinking fast, and the captain gave the order to abandon ship.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Court cases, orders & decisions
- actionable
- administer
- admissible
- affidavit
- affiliation order
- bail
- bale
- court martial
- inadmissible
- injunction
- judgment
- judicature
- judicial
- plea
- remedy
- retrial
- Rex
- ruling
- separation
- sequester
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order noun (PURPOSE)
More examples
- They've introduced all sorts of new elements to that programme in order to broaden its appeal.
- In order to make the company viable, it will unfortunately be necessary to reduce staffing levels.
- The president took the unusual step of altering his prepared speech in order to condemn the terrorist attack.
- Children need to feel secure in order to do well at school.
- He assumed a false identity in order to escape from the police.
B1 with the aim of achieving something:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: connecting words which introduce a cause or reason
- at
- because
- because of
- behalf
- cos
- courtesy
- fear
- for
- from
- herein
- necessarily
- on sb's account idiom
- owing to
- right
- sake 1
- thanks
- through
- what with idiom
- with
- with a view to doing sth idiom
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order noun (TIDY)
B2 [ U ] a situation in which everything is arranged in its correct place:
to organize something well:
More examples
- Their house is always in apple-pie order.
- You should put your own house in order before you start telling me what to do!
- I need to put the kitchen in order before I can leave.
- Make sure you leave the changing rooms in order.
- We must impose some kind of order on the way this office is run.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Classifying and creating order
- alphabetize
- arrange
- arrangement
- catalogue
- categorize
- format
- organization
- precedence
- prioritize
- put sth/sb in a pigeonhole idiom
- range
- reconstruct
- rejig
- stream
- tick sth off
- topology
- track
- tracking
- triage
- umbrella
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order noun (STATE)
B1 [ U ] the state of working correctly or of being suitable for use:
More examples
- The cash machine is out of order.
- The inspectors checked that all the documentation was in order.
- I forgot to tell her that my phone is out of order.
- The sign on the elevator read "out of order".
- It has taken about five years to restore the aircraft to full working order.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Machines - Functioning
- asthmatically
- commission
- faulty
- fire sth up
- function as sth/sb
- functionally
- in commission idiom
- operation
- operational
- operative
- pack up
- peg
- perform
- play up
- right
- roll
- start
- start (sth) up
- torpor
- work
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order noun (CORRECT BEHAVIOUR)
C2 [ U ] a situation in which rules are obeyed and people do what they are expected to do:
an expression used in a parliament or a formal meeting to get people's attention and make them stop talking, so that the meeting or discussion can start or continue
More examples
- There has been a complete breakdown in law and order.
- The army has been brought in to maintain order in the region.
- Would you say the government's stance on law and order has softened?
- The self-declared guardians of law and order held a press conference.
- Without realistic sanctions, some teachers have difficulty keeping order in the classroom.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Social order & disorder
- anarchic
- anarchism
- anarchist
- anarchy
- ASBO
- disturb
- ferment
- havoc
- instability
- lawless
- mayhem
- organized chaos
- pandemonium
- strife
- tinderbox
- turbulence
- turbulent
- turmoil
- unrest
- upheaval
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order noun (SYSTEM)
C2 [ C ] a social or political system:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Systems of government
- a reign of terror idiom
- absolutism
- ancien régime
- anti-federalist
- apartheid
- Dem
- democracy
- democrat
- democratic
- democratize
- imperialism
- interregnum
- Jim Crow
- junta
- kleptocracy
- patriarchy
- plutocracy
- plutocrat
- police state
- regime
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order noun (RELIGION)
[ C, + sing/pl verb ] a group of people who join together for religious or similar reasons and live according to particular rules:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Religious people: monks & nuns
- abbess
- abbey
- abbot
- anchorite
- ascetic
- benedictine
- flagellant
- Franciscan
- friar
- friary
- habit
- hermit
- monasticism
- monk
- mother
- novice
- nun
- priory
- Trappist monk
- veil
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order noun (HONOUR)
[ S, + sing/pl verb ] a group that people are made members of as a reward for services they have done for their country:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Royalty, aristocracy & titles
- accession
- archduke
- aristocracy
- aristocrat
- baron
- ennoble
- er
- esquire
- grace
- hereditary peer
- monarchist
- Mr
- Mrs
- nobility
- noble
- sheikh
- sire
- sovereign
- squire
- sultan
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order noun (TYPE)
[ U ] the type or size of something:
approximately:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
General words for size and amount
- -sized
- a whole lot idiom
- amount
- bulk
- content
- degree
- element
- flow
- load
- measure
- number
- part
- quantity
- quota
- ration
- scale
- size
- small-scale
- strength
- take
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order noun (BIOLOGY)
[ C ] specialized biology (used in the classification of plants and animals) a group of related plants or animals:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Species & genders
- breed
- class
- female
- genera
- genus
- he
- m
- male
- paramecium
- phylum
- related
- same-gender
- she
- species
- strain
- subspecies
Idiom(s)
orderverb
uk/ˈɔː.dər/us/ˈɔːr.dɚ/order verb (REQUEST)
A2 [ I or T ] to ask for something to be made, supplied, or delivered, especially in a restaurant or shop:
More examples
- The waiter smiled contemptuously at anyone who didn't know which wine to order.
- I ordered a double espresso.
- She quickly emptied her glass and ordered another drink.
- He orders the same thing every time he goes to this restaurant.
- I'll be ordering a take-away later. Would you like anything?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Buying
- acquisitiveness
- approval
- bid
- bidding war
- bite
- brand loyalty
- bulk-buy
- import
- invest
- kick the tires idiom
- load up on sth
- money-off
- on the slate idiom
- order form
- order sth in
- send out for sth
- shop around
- shopaholic
- shopping
- stock up
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order verb (INSTRUCT)
B2 [ T ] If a person in authority orders someone to do something, or orders something to be done, they tell someone to do it:
More examples
- I order you to put down your weapon.
- The police have been ordered to pay substantial damages to the families of the two dead boys.
- An inquiry was ordered into the recent rail disaster.
- In a level voice, he ordered the soldiers to aim and fire.
- You can't just come in here and start ordering people around.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Giving orders & commands
- all-points bulletin
- bade
- boss
- bossyboots
- chain of command
- crack the whip idiom
- defy
- demand
- enjoin
- expect
- forget
- harry
- lay down the law idiom
- mandate
- ordain
- order sb around
- overbearing
- prescribed
- steamroller
- stick
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order verb (ARRANGE)
[ T ] to arrange a group of people or things in a list from first to last:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Classifying and creating order
- alphabetize
- arrange
- arrangement
- catalogue
- categorize
- format
- organization
- precedence
- prioritize
- put sth/sb in a pigeonhole idiom
- range
- reconstruct
- rejig
- stream
- tick sth off
- topology
- track
- tracking
- triage
- umbrella
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