ordinance

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun an authoritative rule
  2. noun a statute enacted by a city government
  3. noun the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

regulation

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