Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

ordain

Syllabification: (or·dain)
Pronunciation: /ôrˈdān/
Translate ordain | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of ordain

verb

[with object]
  • 1make (someone) a priest or minister; confer holy orders on.
  • 2order or decree (something) officially:equal punishment was ordained for the two crimes
  • (especially of God or fate) prescribe; determine (something):the path ordained by God

Derivatives

ordainer

noun

ordainment

noun

Origin:

Middle English (also in the sense 'put in order'): from Anglo-Norman French ordeiner, from Latin ordinare, from ordo, ordin- (see order)

ordain in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of ordain in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

epithalamium

/ ˌɛpɪθəˈleɪmɪəm /
noun
a song or poem celebrating a marriage …