order of magnitude

British

noun

Also called: order. the approximate size of something, esp measured in powers of 10

the order of magnitude of the deficit was as expected
their estimates differ by an order of magnitude

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Meanwhile Elon Musk has cut the cost of space travel by at least an order of magnitude with the reusable rocket.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026

The banks that lend to private credit funds are within the perimeter, and their exposure has grown by an order of magnitude over the past 10 years.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

If that is the case, we will have the breaking of a bubble that will be worse in order of magnitude than the 1990s tech bubble.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

"In an AI search engine, the average length is 40 to 60 words. So, you're talking about an order of magnitude of specificity change."

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026

The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any other mountain I’d been on; I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023