ordain Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb order by virtue of superior authority; decree
    enact.
    • The King ordained the persecution and expulsion of the Jews
    • the legislature enacted this law in 1985
  2. verb appoint to a clerical posts
    ordinate; consecrate; order.
    • he was ordained in the Church
  3. verb invest with ministerial or priestly authority
    • The minister was ordained only last month
  4. verb issue an order

WordNet

Or*dain" transitive verb
Etymology
OE. ordeinen, OF. ordener, F. ordonner, fr. L. ordinare, from ordo, ordinis, order. See Order, and cf. Ordinance.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Ordained ; present participle & verbal noun Ordaining
Definitions
  1. To set in order; to arrange according to rule; to regulate; to set; to establish. "Battle well ordained." Spenser.
    The stake that shall be ordained on either side. Chaucer.
  2. To regulate, or establish, by appointment, decree, or law; to constitute; to decree; to appoint; to institute.
    Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month. 1 Kings xii. 32.
    And doth the power that man adores ordain Their doom ? Byron.
  3. To set apart for an office; to appoint.
    Being ordained his special governor. Shak.
  4. (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.
    Meletius was ordained by Arian bishops. Bp. Stillingfleet.

Webster 1913