ordinance

American  

[awr-dn-uhns] / ˈɔr dn əns /

noun

ordinances plural

1. an authoritative rule or law; a decree or command.

   Synonyms:

   order

2. a public injunction or regulation.

   a city ordinance against excessive horn blowing.

   Synonyms:

   order

3. something believed to have been ordained, as by a deity or destiny.

4. Ecclesiastical.

   1. an established rite or ceremony.

   2. a sacrament.

   3. the communion.

---

ordinance British  

/ ˈɔːdɪnəns /

noun

1. an authoritative regulation, decree, law, or practice

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preordinance
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ordinances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ordinance

1275–1325; Middle English ordinaunce (< Old French ordenance ) < Medieval Latin ordinantia, derivative of Latin ordinant- (stem of ordināns ), present participle of ordināre to arrange. See ordination, -ance

Explanation

An ordinance is a local law. Many cities have recently passed ordinances making it illegal to smoke indoors or mandatory for pet owners to curb their dogs. Ordinance can also mean the act of making someone a priest. In both senses, it means a direction or command coming down from a higher authority or an official conference. If you break an ordinance, you'll likely be fined rather than jailed. Remember that an ordinance is a rule meant to keep things in order.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ordinance ordinances

They are gathering signatures for a petition to put the ordinance to a citywide referendum.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Still, the way the ordinance is worded also prohibits teaching yoga for free, Pease pointed out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

The city has argued in court filings that the ordinance didn’t specifically ban teaching yoga in its parks, but required people seeking to engage in commercial activity or lectures to obtain a permit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

Under the ordinance, developers can now build up to four-story buildings with up to 16 units on lots that were previously zoned for single-family homes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

However, unlike a similar ordinance adopted in Boston, San Francisco’s policy applies only to public employment, not to private vendors that do business with the city or county of San Francisco.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

In 2020 Pennsylvania’s state legislature overrode local ordinances and expanded the definition of “pedestrian” to include robots weighing up to 550 pounds and traveling up to 12 miles an hour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

As the ecology director at the nonprofit Climate Revolution Action Network, the 20-year-old has helped put a stop to multiple data centers across New Jersey and pushed for ordinances to ban their construction altogether.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

Rules required minimum lot sizes of 5,750 square feet for single-family homes, and strict single-family zoning ordinances were criticized for creating sprawl.

From Barron's ● May 31, 2026

And city ordinances don’t trump First Amendment rights.

From Slate ● May 4, 2026

It was a place for marriages and sacred ordinances, not an everyday churchgoing experience.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel