ordinance
an authoritative order or law issued by a government, especially a local municipality
Word origin: From Latin ordinare, to put in order.
Ordinance in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing ordinance in a sentence.
The city passed an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags within its limits.
The city council passed an ordinance restricting construction noise to weekday daylight hours.
Quick GRE check
3 questions, about 2 minutes. How would you do on the real test?
Verbal · Text Completion
The historian argued that the empire's collapse was not blank but the predictable outcome of decades of fiscal mismanagement that contemporaries had simply refused to acknowledge.
Using “ordinance” well
An ordinance is an authoritative law or order, especially one enacted by a local government such as a city or town. Do not confuse it with ordnance, which means military weapons and ammunition.
More GRE words starting with O
a stupid, clumsy, or boorish person
stubbornly refusing to change one's mind or course of action
a gesture or attitude of deep respect or submission
showing deferential respect or submissive obedience
a tapering stone pillar with a pyramidal top, typically erected as a monument
grossly overweight to a degree that poses a health risk
to make something deliberately unclear or confusing
the act of making something deliberately unclear or confusing
Questions about “ordinance”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Take the free 39-minute GRE Quick Mock Test and meet words like this inside real Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions, with a worked solution for every answer.