word order

American  

noun

1. the way in which words are arranged in sequence in a sentence or smaller construction.

   In Latin, word order is freer than in English.

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word order British  

noun

1. the arrangement of words in a phrase, clause, or sentence. In many languages, including English, word order plays an important part in determining meanings expressed in other languages by inflections

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Etymology

Origin of word order

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

word order

These include word order preferences, such as whether verbs come before or after objects, and hierarchical structures, such as how grammatical relationships are marked within sentences.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2026

The literary term “anastrophe” refers to the technique of reversing word order in a sentence for effect.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2023

Pitjantjatjara also has free word order, but unlike Murrinhpatha, the language is not polysynthetic.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 18, 2023

A last option to consider is that the Yoda species is in some way hard-wired for object-subject-verb word order.

From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2019

As we’ll see, a writer must constantly reconcile the two sides of word order: a code for information, and a sequence of mental events.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker