order of business
35
3.5
- noun
- /ˈɔrdər əv ˈbɪznəs/
:
orden del día
- The first order of business in today's meeting is to review the financial report.
- first order of business
- order of business at the meeting
So then first order of business is component selection.
- So then first order of business is component selection.
- That will be the first order of Business Today.
- Coming out of school, the first thing they do, the first order of business is set this pattern in their relationship.
Examples
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When Democrats retake the House, one of the first orders of business will be campaign finance reform.
Blog text (5) -
But the first order of business is to fix the financial system.
Academic text (2011) -
So the first order of business is that we need a unique code on.
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And as such, there is one order of business left to discuss.
-
We have one order of business.
-
Anyway, on to the next order of business.
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Next order of business, a request by Mike Taylor for a new stop sign down his way.
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The first order of business was to try to increase the birds' numbers as quickly as possible.
Academic text (1999) -
Our first order of business is to present Planned Parenthood's Employee of the Year award.
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Common sense dictates that classroom management, control of the classroom, is the first order of business for any teacher.
Academic text (1990)
Synonyms
∞
2.3
A list of things to talk about or do at a meeting
1
4.9
A list of things a meeting will discuss that day
A printed list of items to be discussed in a parliament or assembly that day
A list of activities planned for a meeting that shows their order
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'order' = sequence and 'business' = matters or affairs to be dealt with, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer it denotes the sequence of matters on an agenda. This pattern is common across languages (e.g. 'orden del día', 'ordre du jour') and follows standard noun + of + noun composition, making it transparent.
Etymology
The phrase order of business comes from the simple idea of a list used in meetings: order means the sequence and business means the topics to be dealt with. One popular image is a meeting leader reading the list so everyone knows what comes next, so 'order of business' now means the list or sequence of items a meeting will deal with.