Meanings
- oftenApproximately.
[T]he rough number of mobile phones is on the order of 3 billion.
2009 August 6, Maria Bartiromo, “Eric Schmidt on Where Google Is Headed”, in Businessweek, retrieved 16 Jun 20141 more example
Still another former NSA whistleblower, the mathematician William Binney, has said that the NSA has "assembled on the order of 20 trillion transactions about US citizens with other US citizens".
2013 July 15, Glenn Greenwald, “The crux of the NSA story in one phrase: 'collect it all'”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 16 Jun 2014
- In the manner of; along the lines of; like; of a similar kind to; more-or-less equivalent to.
[H]is philanthropy was more on the order of that of Jack Cade than it was Christian.
1919, Elbert Hubbard, “John Wesley”, in Little Journeys: Vol. 9-Great Reformers2 more examples
The earth's interior is somewhat on the order of an elaborate amusement-park tunnel of love.
1959 Dec. 17, Bosley Crowther, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (film review), New York Times (retrieved 16 June 2014)Calling Ford's muscle car an iconic, era-defining product on the order of Sony's Walkman or Apple's iPhone isn't a stretch.
2013 December 16, Bill Saporito, “Ford Is Back in the Saddle with New Mustang”, in Time, retrieved 16 Jun 2014Synonyms: OTOO
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositionIn the manner of; along the lines of; like; of a similar kind to; more-or-less equivalent to.
Translations
Polish rzędu, w stylu
- rzęduadverb
- w stylupreposition
Cite this entry
on the order of. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20order%20of
“on the order of.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20order%20of. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the order of,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20order%20of.
Source: on the order of on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.