Other forms: ordinances
An ordinance is a rule made by a local authority. A city ordinance, pass an ordinance, in breach of the ordinance.
It is chiefly American, where a city ordinance covers parking, noise, dogs and the height of your fence. It is not the same word as ordnance, which means artillery and munitions, and the two are constantly mistyped for one another.
1nounordinanceA rule made by a local authority.
“A local ordinance bans dogs from the beach during the summer months.”
ordinance is a rule.
Also accepted in games: byelaw
Old French ordenance comes from Latin ordinare, to arrange, from ordo, an order or rank.
Medieval Latin
ordinantia
Old French
ordenance — decree, command
Middle English
ordinaunce
English, today
ordinance
Built from
From Middle English ordinaunce (ca. 1300), from Old French ordenance (“decree, command”) (modern ordonnance), from Medieval Latin ordinantia, from ordinans, the present participle of ordino (“put in order”) (whence ordain). a doublet of ordonnance.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA