money order

noun

A directive to pay a prespecified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a check.

Meanings

nounmoney order (plural money orders)

plural money orders

  1. bankingA directive to pay a prespecified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a check.

    I begin my discussion of payments with money orders and cashier′s checks because I think they′re just the greatest way to receive payment. Money orders and cashier′s checks are fast, cheap, and negotiable (just like cash).

    2009, Marsha Collier, EBay Business All-in-One For Dummies, page 390
    2 more examples

    1965, Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia No. 51 - 1965, page 589, The issue of money orders and postal notes is regulated by sections 74-79 of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901—1961. The maximum amount for which a single money order payable within Australia may be obtained is £40, but additional orders will be issued upon request when larger amounts are to be remitted. The maximum amount permitted to be sent by any one person to a person or persons outside Australia is £A.10 a week. A postal note is not available for a sum larger than twenty shillings.

    2007, Gary B. Magee, Andrew S. Thompson, ‘Migrapounds’: Remittance Flows Within the British World, c. 1875—1913, Kate Darian-Smith, Patricia Grimshaw, Stuart Macintyre (editors), Britishness Abroad: Transnational Movements and Imperial Cultures, page 47, In the UK, a Money Order Office was formed in 1838, a separate and specialised department of the Royal Mail that had its origins in an officially sanctioned private business carried on from the late eighteenth century.⁹ […] By 1873, a reliable international money order service was in full operation between the United Kingdom and the majority of its colonies,¹⁰ as well as with a number of other countries, not least the USA.¹¹

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna written order for the payment of a sum to a named individual; obtainable and payable at a post office

Broader
draftbill of exchangeorder of payment

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Afrikaans poswissel
  • poswissela type of cheque
Chinese Mandarin 匯票 /汇票
  • 匯票 /汇票 (huìpiào)a type of cheque
Dutch postwissel
  • postwissela type of cheque
Finnish maksuosoitus, postiosoitus
  • maksuosoitusa type of cheque
  • postiosoitusa type of cheque
French mandat-poste, mandat postal
  • mandat-postea type of cheque
  • mandat postala type of cheque
German Geldbrief, Postanweisung
  • Geldbriefa type of cheque
  • Postanweisunga type of cheque
Hindi धनादेश
  • धनादेश (dhanādeś)a type of cheque
Hungarian készpénzátutalási megbízás, postautalvány
  • készpénzátutalási megbízása type of cheque
  • postautalványa type of cheque
  • pénzesutalványa type of cheque
  • sárga csekka type of cheque
  • rózsaszín csekka type of cheque
Indonesian wesel, wesel pos
  • wesela type of cheque
  • wesel posa type of cheque
  • surat perintah pembayarana type of cheque
Italian vaglia postale
  • vaglia postalea type of cheque
Japanese 為替
  • 為替 (kawase)a type of cheque
Malay wang pos
  • wang posa type of cheque
Norwegian postanvisning
  • postanvisninga type of cheque
Russian де́нежный перево́д
  • де́нежный перево́д (dénežnyj perevód)a type of cheque
Spanish giro postal, moniórder
  • giro postala type of cheque
  • moniórdera type of cheque
  • órden dinerariaa type of cheque
Swahili hawala
  • hawalaa type of cheque
Swedish postanvisning
  • postanvisninga type of cheque
Tagalog hiro postal
  • hiro postala type of cheque
Thai ธนาณัติ
  • ธนาณัติa type of cheque
Cite this entry
APA

money order. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/money%20order

MLA

“money order.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/money%20order. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “money order,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/money%20order.

Source: money order on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.