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Synonyms

order of the day

American  

noun

  1. the agenda for an assembly, meeting, group, or organization.

  2. the activity or feature of primary importance.

    Good cheer and celebrations will be the order of the day.
order of the day British  

noun

  1. the general directive of a commander in chief or the specific instructions of a commanding officer

  2. informal the prescribed or only thing offered or available

    prunes were the order of the day

  3. (in Parliament and similar legislatures) any item of public business ordered to be considered on a specific day

  4. an agenda or programme

"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

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.

Right now in government, contingency planning is the order of the day.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

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

He would have been at home in Imperial or Baroque Rome, where thinking big was the order of the day; in his own time—and ours—it has been the exception.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 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

With the team-style research encouraged by Lawrence reaching its full flower, collaboration was the order of the day.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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.