First recorded in 1590–1600
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If he supports law and order, they don’t have to be antipolice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
The GOP, led by Ronald Reagan, found success throughout the 1980s by focusing on law and order.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2026
“In his new role as acting attorney general, Todd will continue to be a tireless advocate for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
The detailed first-hand testimony from all four men also verifies reports of a breakdown of law and order on the Russian front line.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
“In fact, Colonel Arbuthnot, you prefer law and order to private vengeance?”
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
The 51-year-old Fujimori shares her father’s law-and-order reputation and support for free-market economic policies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Rodriguez worries that Kast’s law-and-order hard line could upset the fragile peace that miners have established with indigenous peoples around their mines.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
Instead, he shifted his focus to Memphis, Tenn., as the next stage for his law-and-order theater.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2025
It was not an instant success, however, when it was first released in urban theaters and sold as a good-old-boy Southern law-and-order drama.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
It was the first law-and-order assignment he’d been part of since he had arrived.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
