gag order

American  

[gag awr-der] / ˈgæg ˌɔr dər /

noun

Law.

1. a court order banning reporters, attorneys, and other parties involved in a case being tried in a court of law from reporting on or publicly disclosing anything relating to the case.

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Etymology

Origin of gag order

First recorded in 1975–80

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gag order

It is, in fact, difficult to tally all the ways in which this gag order is unlawful.

From Slate ● May 19, 2026

He blabs so much about the trial at his daily press conferences that the judge hands down a gag order.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

"I agreed to a one-year gag order, which seemed important to the prince because it ensured his mother's Platinum Jubilee would not be tarnished any more than it already had been," she writes.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2025

In a lawsuit earlier this year, the Justice Department based its decision to deny the release of Volume II based on Cannon’s gag order.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2025

An interesting example of this sort of question happened in 1993, when a Canadian court issued a gag order on Canadian reporters covering a particularly controversial murder case.

From Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet by Electronic Frontier Foundation

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