ordonnance

[ awr-dn-uhns; French awr-daw-nahns ]

noun

, plural or·don·nanc·es [awr, -dn-, uh, n-siz, aw, r, -daw-, nahns].

1. the arrangement or disposition of parts, as of a building, picture, or literary work.
2. an ordinance, decree, or law.

ordonnance

/ ˈɔːdənəns; ɔrdɔnɑ̃s /

noun

1. the proper disposition of the elements of a building or an artistic or literary composition
2. an ordinance, law, or decree, esp in French law

Other Words From

• ordon·nant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ordonnance¹

1635–45; < French, alteration of Old French ordenance ordinance, by influence of donner to give

Word History and Origins

Origin of ordonnance¹

C17: from Old French ordenance arrangement, influenced by ordonner to order

Example Sentences

The 89-page indictment – known as an “ordonnance de renvoi” in French – signed by French prosecuting judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke says AMS played a “central and essential role in the process” that diverted sponsorship funds to Papa Massata Diack.

From Reuters

Ce 21 octobre, le TGI de Paris a rendu son ordonnance de référé dans le litige opposant Copie France à la firme américaine.

From Forbes

These seem to be long, obscure combinations of four words, like “crestons antennules unsterile tenaculum” or “copiously unworried diaglyph ordonnance,” which the user is asked to memorize or keep in a secure place.

From Forbes

Footnote 5: In many countries, the distinction of station, if not of birth, was very strictly enforced, especially at meals; and I think it is Meyrick who mentions the ordonnance of some foreign prince, by which no one was permitted, under the grade of chivalry, to sit at the table with a knight, unless he were a cross-bowman, the son of a knight.

From Project Gutenberg

He further enclosed an Ordonnance directing that no Jew in France was to be arrested on the requisition of any person or friar of any Order, no matter what his office might be, without notifying the seneschal or bailli, who was to decide whether the case was sufficiently clear to be acted upon without reference to the royal council.

From Project Gutenberg