order of the day, the

Idioms  

1. The prevailing or expected mode, the current agenda, as in Volatility is the order of the day in high-tech stocks, or T-shirts and blue jeans were the order of the day for the picnic. This expression, dating from the late 1600s, originally alluded to the subject of debate in a legislature on a particular day, as well as to specific commands given to troops. Its figurative use dates from the second half of the 1700s.

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Example Sentences

Not long after Rondon read his Order of the Day, the surveying team took off down the river to begin their long day’s work.

From Literature

At a time when deepening segregation was the order of the day, the settlement had embraced racially integrated church worship and the forward-looking belief that white people and African Americans could abide together in mutual respect.

From New York Times

“Security is the order of the day: the security of our country, the security of our Capitol, which is the temple of our democracy, and the security of our members,” Ms. Pelosi wrote in the letter, adding that it was clear both from General Honoré’s findings and “from the impeachment trial that we must get to the truth of how this happened.”

From New York Times

Reflecting the feudal social order of the day, the primary concern for officials was to protect the castle itself and its military encampment; fires in the rest of the city were viewed not as public health concerns but rather as a problem of social control.

From The Guardian

Expropriations became the order of the day, the land typically redistributed among the peasant and rancher majority.

From Slate