# order

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɔː.də/ · frequency rank #307

## Definitions
1. Arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
2. A position in an arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
3. The state of being well arranged.
4. Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance; general tranquillity; public quiet.
5. A command.
6. A request for some product or service; a commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods.
7. A group of religious adherents, especially monks or nuns, set apart within their religion by adherence to a particular rule or set of principles.
8. An association of knights.
9. Any group of people with common interests.
10. A decoration, awarded by a government, a dynastic house, or a religious body to an individual, usually for distinguished service to a nation or to humanity.
11. A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below class and above family; a taxon at that rank.
12. A number of things or persons arranged in a fixed or suitable place, or relative position; a rank; a row; a grade; especially, a rank or class in society; a distinct character, kind, or sort.
13. An ecclesiastical rank or position, usually for the sake of ministry, (especially, when plural) holy orders.
14. The disposition of a column and its component parts, and of the entablature resting upon it, in classical architecture; hence (since the column and entablature are the characteristic features of classical architecture) a style or manner of architectural design.
15. The sequence in which a side’s batsmen bat; the batting order.
16. Scale: size or scope.
17. A power of polynomial function in an electronic circuit’s block, such as a filter, an amplifier, etc.
18. The overall power of the rate law of a chemical reaction, expressed as a polynomial function of concentrations of reactants and products.
19. The number of elements contained within (the given object); formally, the cardinality (of the given object).
20. The smallest positive natural number n such that (denoting the group operation multiplicatively) gⁿ is the identity element of G, if such an n exists; if no such n exists the element is said to be of infinite order (or sometimes zero order).
21. The number of vertices in the graph (i.e. the set-theoretic order of the set of vertices of the graph).
22. A partially ordered set.
23. The relation with which a partially ordered set is equipped.
24. The sum of the exponents of the variables involved in the expression.
25. The order of the leading monomial; (equivalently) the largest power of the variable involved in the given expression.
26. A written direction to furnish someone with money or property; compare money order, postal order.

## Etymology
From Middle English ordre, from Old French ordre, ordne, ordene (“order, rank”), from Latin ōrdinem, accusative of ōrdō (“row, rank, regular arrangement”, literally “row of threads in a loom”), from Proto-Italic *ordō (“to arrange”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂or-d-, from *h₂er-.
Related to Latin ōrdior (“begin”, literally “begin to weave”). In sense “request for purchase”, compare bespoke. Doublet of ordo.

## Easily confused with
- **ore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-ore)
- **Orr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-orr)
- **over** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-over)
- **ores** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-ores)
- **Oreo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-oreo)
- **Oren** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-oren)
- **other** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-other)
- **owner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-owner)
- **outer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-outer)
- **otter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-otter)
- **orders** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-orders)
- **ordered** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-ordered)
- **orderly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/order-vs-orderly)
- **ode** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ode-vs-order)
- **ord** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ord-vs-order)
- **odor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/odor-vs-order)
- **omer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/omer-vs-order)
- **Oder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/oder-vs-order)
- **olde** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/olde-vs-order)
- **offer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/offer-vs-order)

## Common misspellings (7)
`odrer`, `ordder`, `orderr`, `ordre`, `oredr`, `orrder`, `roder`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/order