Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on.
  • transitive verb To authorize as a rabbi.
  • transitive verb To order or decree by virtue of superior authority.
  • transitive verb To prearrange unalterably; predestine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To set or place in proper order; arrange; prepare; make ready; hence, to construct or constitute with a view to a certain end.
  • To set up; establish; institute; appoint: order.
  • To dispose or regulate according to will or purpose; prescribe; give orders or directions for; command; enact; decree: used especially of the decrees of Providence or of fate; hence, to destine.
  • To set apart for an office; select; appoint.
  • To destine, set apart, etc., to a certain spiritual condition, or to the fulfilment of a certain providential purpose: especially in Biblical usage.
  • Eccles., to invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; confer holy orders upon; appoint to or formally introduce into the ministerial office: used especially of admission to the priesthood, as distinguished from making a deacon and consecrating a bishop. See ordination, 2.
  • Synonyms To destine, enact, order, prescribe, enjoin. In regard to the making of human laws or the acts of Providence, ordain is the most weighty and solemn word in use: as, the Mayor and Common Council do ordain; “the powers that be are ordained of God,”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To set in order; to arrange according to rule; to regulate; to set; to establish.
  • transitive verb To regulate, or establish, by appointment, decree, or law; to constitute; to decree; to appoint; to institute.
  • transitive verb To set apart for an office; to appoint.
  • transitive verb (Eccl.) To invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; to introduce into the office of the Christian ministry, by the laying on of hands, or other forms; to set apart by the ceremony of ordination.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to prearrange unalterably
  • verb to decree
  • verb to admit into the ministry of the Christian church
  • verb to authorize as a rabbi
  • verb to predestine

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb invest with ministerial or priestly authority
  • verb appoint to a clerical posts
  • verb issue an order
  • verb order by virtue of superior authority; decree

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ordeinen, from Old French ordener, ordein-, from Latin ōrdināre, to organize, appoint to office, from ōrdō, ōrdin-, order; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ordinare ("to order"), from ordo ("order").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ordain.

Examples

  • In reference to the word ordain, we shall speak under the sixth proposition.

    The Works of James Arminius, Vol. 3 1560-1609 1956

  • The word "ordain" -- then and now -- means "to order by virtue of superior authority," meaning "We the people" are the superior authority.

    Jackson Williams: Glenn Beck, Unhinged in Texas 2010

  • To deny that the elders have the right to ordain is to run directly against the expressed declaration of the Bible.

    Scraps of African Methodist Episcopal History 1902

  • The best known inside the church was the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a highly traditional French cleric who took his differences with Rome into open schism and was excommunicated, along with the four men he dared to "ordain" as bishops, in the year of our lord 1970.

    The Pope’s Denial Problem 2009

  • Nowadays, that is more true than ever, in the Catholic Church and particularly in those ecclesial communities that "ordain" women to the ministry—so much so that, if we did have women's ordination in the two communions that can plausibly claim historical and confessional continuity with the Church of the Apostles, I suspect the demographics would not take terribly long to yield a "priesthood" composed disproportionately of middle-aged and elderly women.

    Mary and the non-ordination of women Mike L 2006

  • We must never forget that it is "We the people ..." who have the power, the genius and the vision to "ordain" a better world for all humanity and achieve what was once thought to be beyond humanity's grasp: "a world that works for everyone."

    Give-Get Nation: Born on the Fourth of July 2006

  • Give-Get Nation: Born on the Fourth of July yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Give-Get Nation: Born on the Fourth of July'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Article: "We the people ..." who have the power, the genius and the vision to "ordain" a better world for all humanity and achieve what was once thought to be beyond humanity\'s grasp: "a world that works for everyone."'

    Give-Get Nation: Born on the Fourth of July 2006

  • Nowadays, that is more true than ever, in the Catholic Church and particularly in those ecclesial communities that "ordain" women to the ministry—so much so that, if we did have women's ordination in the two communions that can plausibly claim historical and confessional continuity with the Church of the Apostles, I suspect the demographics would not take terribly long to yield a "priesthood" composed disproportionately of middle-aged and elderly women.

    Archive 2006-04-01 Mike L 2006

  • [240: 1] The word [Greek: katastêsês], here translated "ordain," should rather be rendered _constitute_, or _establish_.

    The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution 1854

  • "The diocese prays that all those involved in this attempt to 'ordain' ` Roman Catholic Womenpriests will be reconciled with the church, and that the harm and division caused will be healed," the Diocese of Venice, Fla., said in a statement.

    Clerical Whispers Sotto Voce 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.