Ordain

//ɔɹˈdeɪn// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To prearrange unalterably.

    "What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or Hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the Head? / What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd / To ſerve mere Engines to the ruling Mind?"

  2. 2
    issue an order wordnet
  3. 3
    To decree.

    "On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting."

  4. 4
    appoint to a clerical posts wordnet
  5. 5
    To admit into the ministry, for example as a priest, bishop, minister or Buddhist monk, or to authorize as a rabbi.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    invest with ministerial or priestly authority wordnet
  2. 7
    To predestine.
  3. 8
    order by virtue of superior authority; decree wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
allocateallotappointappropriateappropriate toassign

Example

More examples

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Etymology

From Middle English ordeynen, from Old French ordiner, from Latin ordinare (“to order”), from ordo (“order”). Doublet of ordinate.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.