rules of order
1
4.3
- noun
- Formal
- If something is important, it should be decided by a cumbersome and expensive legislative process, complete with officially sanctioned committees, proposals, amendments, rules of order, and majority votes.
Examples
-
They never look into the reasons for manners, Robert's rules of order, the House and Senate rules of order and conduct, etc.
Blog text (16) -
An Alternative to Robert's Rules of Order for Groups, Organizations, and Ad Hoc Assemblies that Want to Operate by Consensus
Blog text (23) -
The few rules of order they had created for their game were crumbling.
Fiction book (1991) -
They never look into the reasons for manners, Robert's rules of order, the House and Senate rules of order and conduct, etc.
Blog text (16) -
Under most parliamentary rules of order, a voter on the losing side of a question can ask for "reconsideration" (a re-vote).
Blog text (23) -
In a formal meeting, the speaker outlined the rules of order that everyone needed to follow to ensure an efficient discussion.
-
During the assembly, the chairperson reminded all members to adhere to the rules of order to maintain decorum.
-
To facilitate smooth decision-making, the organization established clear rules of order for its annual meetings.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
An instruction or law that tells people what to do
4
4.2
A rule for meetings or groups that stays in force until changed
3
6.4
A set of formal rules for running meetings and debates
1
6.7
A book of rules for running meetings and making group decisions
1
4.2
A set of ideas that guides how people act or how things work
Rules that tell people how to run meetings and make decisions in official groups
Antonyms
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a set of formal rules or procedures governing meetings' is directly and predictably built from 'rule(s)' (regulation) + 'order' (a state of organized conduct) connected by 'of' — i.e., rules that establish or maintain order. This simple noun+of+noun compositional pattern is common across languages and follows standard English semantics, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Rules of order comes from the image of a noisy meeting that needs clear rules to keep everyone in order, so people speak one at a time and the meeting stays calm. That's why it means 'a set of formal rules for running meetings'.