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.
 
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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:
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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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