I. SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION USES
/ɔ:(r)də(r)/
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you do something in order to achieve a particular thing or in order that something can happen, you do it because you want to achieve that thing.
Most schools are extremely unwilling to cut down on staff in order to cut costs.
PHRASE
2.
If someone must be in a particular situation in order to achieve something they want, they cannot achieve that thing if they are not in that situation.
They need hostages in order to bargain with the government.
PHRASE
3.
If something must happen in order for something else to happen, the second thing cannot happen if the first thing does not happen.
In order for their computers to trace a person’s records, they need both the name and address of the individual.
PHRASE : CONJ n to-inf
II. COMMANDS AND REQUESTS
/ɔ:(r)də(r)/
( orders, ordering, ordered)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 12 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If a person in authority orders someone to do something, they tell them to do it.
Williams ordered him to leave...
He ordered the women out of the car...
‘Let him go!’ he ordered...
‘Go up to your room. Now,’ he ordered him.
= command
VERB : V n to-inf , V n prep / adv , V with quote , V n with quote
2.
If someone in authority orders something, they give instructions that it should be done.
The President has ordered a full investigation...
The radio said that the prime minister had ordered price controls to be introduced...
He ordered that all party property be confiscated...
The President ordered him moved because of fears that his comrades would try to free him.
VERB : V n , V n to-inf , V that , V n -ed
3.
If someone in authority gives you an order , they tell you to do something.
The activists were shot when they refused to obey an order to halt...
As darkness fell, Clinton gave orders for his men to rest...
They were later arrested and executed on the orders of Stalin.
= command, instruction
N-COUNT
4.
A court order is a legal instruction stating that something must be done.
She has decided not to appeal against a court order banning her from keeping animals...
He was placed under a two-year supervision order.
N-COUNT : usu supp N
5.
When you order something that you are going to pay for, you ask for it to be brought to you, sent to you, or obtained for you.
Atanas ordered a shrimp cocktail and a salad...
The waitress appeared. ‘Are you ready to order?’...
We ordered him a beer.
VERB : V n , V , V n n
6.
An order is a request for something to be brought, made, or obtained for you in return for money.
British Rail are going to place an order for a hundred and eighty-eight trains.
N-COUNT : oft N for n
7.
Someone’s order is what they have asked to be brought, made, or obtained for them in return for money.
The waiter returned with their order and Graham signed the bill...
They can’t supply our order.
N-COUNT : poss N
8.
see also holy orders , mail order , postal order , standing order
9.
Something that is on order at a shop or factory has been asked for but has not yet been supplied.
The airlines still have 2,500 new aeroplanes on order.
PHRASE : PHR after v , v-link PHR
10.
If you do something to order , you do it whenever you are asked to do it.
She now makes wonderful dried flower arrangements to order...
PHRASE : PHR after v
11.
If you are under orders to do something, you have been told to do it by someone in authority.
I am under orders not to discuss his mission or his location with anyone.
PHRASE : v-link PHR to-inf
12.
your marching orders: see march
a tall order: see tall
III. ARRANGEMENTS, SITUATIONS, AND GROUPINGS
/ɔ:(r)də(r)/
( orders, ordering, ordered)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
Please look at category 17 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If a set of things are arranged or done in a particular order , they are arranged or done so one thing follows another, often according to a particular factor such as importance.
Write down (in order of priority) the qualities you’d like to have...
Music shops should arrange their recordings in simple alphabetical order, rather than by category...
N-UNCOUNT : also a N , usu with supp , oft in/into N
2.
Order is the situation that exists when everything is in the correct or expected place, or happens at the correct or expected time.
The wish to impose order upon confusion is a kind of intellectual instinct...
Making lists can create order and control.
≠ confusion, chaos
N-UNCOUNT
3.
Order is the situation that exists when people obey the law and do not fight or riot.
Troops were sent to the islands to restore order last November...
He has the power to use force to maintain public order.
N-UNCOUNT
4.
When people talk about a particular order , they mean the way society is organized at a particular time.
The end of the Cold War has produced the prospect of a new world order based on international co-operation...
N-SING : with supp
5.
The way that something is ordered is the way that it is organized and structured.
...a society which is ordered by hierarchy...
We know the French order things differently.
...a carefully ordered system in which everyone has his place.
VERB : be V-ed , V n , V-ed
6.
If you refer to something of a particular order , you mean something of a particular kind. ( FORMAL )
Another unexpected event, though of quite a different order, occurred one evening in 1973...
N-COUNT : with supp , usu of supp N
7.
A religious order is a group of monks or nuns who live according to a particular set of rules.
...the Benedictine order of monks.
N-COUNT
8.
see also ordered , law and order , pecking order , point of order
9.
If you put or keep something in order , you make sure that it is tidy or properly organized.
Now he has a chance to put his life back in order...
Someone comes in every day to check all is in order.
PHRASE : PHR after v , v-link PHR
10.
If you think something is in order , you think it should happen or be provided.
Reforms are clearly in order...
PHRASE : v-link PHR
11.
You use in the order of or of the order of when mentioning an approximate figure.
They borrowed something in the order of £10 million...
PREP-PHRASE : PREP amount
12.
If something is in good order , it is in good condition.
The vessel’s safety equipment was not in good order.
PHRASE : v-link PHR
13.
A machine or device that is in working order is functioning properly and is not broken.
Only half of the spacecraft’s six science instruments are still in working order.
PHRASE : v-link PHR
14.
If a particular way of behaving or doing something is the order of the day , it is very common.
These are strange times in which we live, and strange arrangements appear to be the order of the day.
PHRASE : v-link PHR
15.
A machine or device that is out of order is broken and does not work.
Their phone’s out of order.
PHRASE : v-link PHR
16.
If you say that someone or their behaviour is out of order , you mean that their behaviour is unacceptable or unfair. ( INFORMAL )
You don’t think the paper’s a bit out of order in publishing it?
PHRASE : v-link PHR
17.
to put your house in order: see house
order of magnitude: see magnitude