order of the day
Americannoun
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the agenda for an assembly, meeting, group, or organization.
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the activity or feature of primary importance.
Good cheer and celebrations will be the order of the day.
noun
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the general directive of a commander in chief or the specific instructions of a commanding officer
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informal the prescribed or only thing offered or available
prunes were the order of the day
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(in Parliament and similar legislatures) any item of public business ordered to be considered on a specific day
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an agenda or programme
Etymology
Origin of order of the day
First recorded in 1690–1700
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
BEIJING—Just before 11 a.m. one recent morning, Xu Hui, a 35-year-old delivery driver, hopped on his motorbike to drop off his first order of the day from a milk tea store.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 20, 2025
Wait-and-see remains the order of the day, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025
Massive user experience changes without opt-outs have been the order of the day for at least the better part of a decade now.
From Slate • Aug. 4, 2025
Keeping the ball low, imaginatively using this glorious golfing terrain was the order of the day.
From BBC • Jul. 22, 2024
It was as though happiness was the order of the day.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.