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ordinance

nounattested in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//ˈɔːdɪnəns//
  • United Kingdom//ˈɔːdnəns//
  • United States//ˈoɹdɪnəns//
  • United States//ˈoɹdnəns//

A local law, passed by e.g. a city.

noun

  1. 1

    A local law, passed by e.g. a city.

    Enactive. Expositive. / Art. 57. XIII 2. The Registrative, or say Recordative: exercised, by the arrangements and operations, by which, in conformity to corresponding ordinances and mandates, the accounts, given at different periods by the exercise of the statistic function, are kept in contiguity, and in a regular series, for the purpose of reference and comparison.

    According to the weatherperson, spring arrived in Hartford, Conn., on Monday, March 20 at 6:34 p.m. But gay people here didn't need a weatherperson to feel the gust of fresh air at a hearing on the proposed gay rights ordinance before the City Council that night at 7:30.

    Alderman Richard Mell then pushed through antipeddling ordinances in the 33rd and 47th wards.

  2. 2

    An edict or decree, authoritative order. Prior to the Third English Civil War, a decree of Parliament.

  3. 3

    An edict or decree, authoritative order. Detailed legislation that translates the broad principles of the university's charter and statutes into practical effect.

  4. 4

    An edict or decree, authoritative order. A law enacted by the Hong Kong Legislative Council.

  5. 5

    An edict or decree, authoritative order. A temporary legislation promulgated by the president on the recommendation of the cabinet.

  6. 6

    A religious practice or ritual prescribed by a church.

  7. 7

    Variant of ordnanceAlternative form of ordnance (“military equipment, especially artillery”).

    Let all the Battlements their Ordinance fire, / The King shal drinke to Hamlets better breath,

    [T]he ſayd gunnes beeing able to hurt but a ſmall diſtance off, and the Iaponians being furniſhed with bꝛazen oꝛdinance vnknowen vnto the Corayans, they pꝛeſently dꝛaue them from their walles, […]

    The battered walls of Fort Sumter were reinforced, and heavier caliber ordinance was mounted in the embrasures, doubling the firepower, […]

    The ordinance officer at Fort Ridgely had packed.62 caliber rather than .58 caliber ammunition. There was no point in any of the men remonstrating over the stupidity of the ordinance officer.

Etymology

From Middle English ordinaunce (ca. 1300), from Old French ordenance (“decree, command”) (modern French ordonnance), from Medieval Latin ordinantia, from ordinans, the present participle of ordino (“put in order”) (whence ordain). Doublet of ordonnance.

Forms

plural
ordinances
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).