Word.ws English Dictionary

marching orders

US/ˈmɑɹtʃɪŋˌɔɹɾɹ̩z/

marching orders noun: instructions for action.

Noun

marching orders pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Instructions for action.
    • I get my marching orders directly from the president.
  2. (UK, plural, plural-only) A dismissal: an instruction to leave.
    • Riled by a decision that went against him, Ziv kicked his displaced boot at the assistant referee and, after a short consultation between the officials, he was given his marching orders and the loudest cheer of the night.2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport

Synonyms of marching orders

Words formed from marching orders

Questions about marching orders

What does marching orders mean?
Marching orders means instructions for action.
What part of speech is marching orders?
Marching orders is a noun.
How do you pronounce marching orders?
Marching orders is pronounced /ˈmɑɹtʃɪŋˌɔɹɾɹ̩z/ (US).

Words near marching orders in the dictionary

  1. marching band
  2. marching bands
  3. marching cubes
  4. marching music
  5. marching on
  6. marching orders
  7. marching past
  8. marching powder
  9. marching to the beat of a different drum
  10. marchings
  11. Marchington

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: marching orders (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-marching orders.ogg.

Cite this entry: “marching orders.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/marching_orders. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.