Order vs. Instruction — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Maham Liaqat — Updated on March 28, 2024
Order implies a command given by an authority, while instruction is guidance or information on how to do something.
Difference Between Order and Instruction
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
An order is typically a command issued by someone in a position of authority, demanding or directing someone to do something specific. It carries a sense of urgency and requirement, often associated with hierarchical relationships or situations where compliance is expected. Whereas, instruction refers to detailed information or explanations given with the intent of teaching or guiding someone on how to perform a task, operate something, or follow procedures.
In a military context, an order is a directive from a superior that must be followed without question, emphasizing the structure and discipline within the ranks. On the other hand, instruction in this setting might involve training or guidelines provided to soldiers to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out their duties effectively.
In the workplace, an order from a manager or supervisor might set a specific task with an expectation of immediate action, reflecting the power dynamics within the organization. Instructions, however, could come in the form of guidelines, manuals, or training sessions aimed at helping employees understand their roles, tasks, or how to use certain tools or systems.
Order often comes with implications of authority and control, suggesting that not following the order could lead to consequences or disciplinary actions. Instruction, while it may also come from someone in authority, focuses more on the educational aspect, aiming to inform, clarify, or enable the person to perform specific actions more effectively.
The choice between using order or instruction depends on the intent: if the goal is to command or demand an action, "order" is used. If the goal is to guide, educate, or explain how something should be done, "instruction" is more appropriate.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A command given by an authority to perform a specific action.
Guidance or information on how to perform a task.
Context
Hierarchical relationships, where compliance is expected.
Educational settings, aiming to provide knowledge or skills.
Tone
Imperative, authoritative.
Informative, educational.
Purpose
To ensure immediate action or compliance.
To teach, guide, or inform.
Examples
Military commands, workplace directives.
Manuals, training sessions, educational materials.
Compare with Definitions
Order
Command to perform a specific action.
The general gave an order to advance.
Instruction
Detailed information on completing a task.
The manual provided instructions for assembly.
Order
Often lacks detailed explanation.
The order to evacuate was urgent and clear.
Instruction
Can be provided by experts or educators.
The instructor gave clear instructions for the project.
Order
Issued by an authority figure.
The CEO's order to revise the policy was quickly implemented.
Instruction
Encourages understanding and competency.
The cooking class included instructions on various techniques.
Order
Demands compliance or action.
The teacher's order to stop talking was met with immediate silence.
Instruction
Often involves a step-by-step process.
The instructions for the software installation were easy to follow.
Order
Focused on achieving immediate results.
Upon receiving the order, the team mobilized within minutes.
Instruction
Aims to educate or guide.
His instructions on how to solve the problem were very helpful.
Order
The arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method
I filed the cards in alphabetical order
Instruction
The act, practice, or profession of instructing
Math instruction.
Order
An authoritative command or instruction
He was not going to take orders from a mere administrator
The skipper gave the order to abandon ship
Instruction
Imparted knowledge
We sought further instruction in a more advanced class.
Order
A particular social, political, or economic system
They were dedicated to overthrowing the established order
Instruction
An imparted or acquired item of knowledge
The judge gave the jury an instruction in how the law defines an accomplice.
Order
A society of monks, nuns, or friars living under the same religious, moral, and social regulations and discipline
The Franciscan Order
Instruction
Often instructions An authoritative direction to be obeyed; an order
Had instructions to be home by midnight.
Order
The quality or nature of something
Poetry of the highest order
Instruction
Instructions Detailed directions about how to do something
Read the instructions for assembly.
Order
A principal taxonomic category that ranks below class and above family
The higher orders of insects
Instruction
(Computers) A sequence of bits that tells a central processing unit to perform a particular operation and can contain data to be used in the operation.
Order
Any of the five classical styles of architecture (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite) based on the proportions of columns and the style of their decoration.
Instruction
(uncountable) The act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with information or knowledge.
Students receive instruction in the arts and sciences.
Instruction will be provided on how to handle difficult customers.
Order
Equipment or uniform for a specified purpose or of a specified type
The platoon changed from drill order into PT kit
Instruction
(countable) An instance of the information or knowledge so furnished.
Order
The degree of complexity of an equation, expression, etc., as denoted by an ordinal number.
Instruction
(countable) An order or command.
Order
Give an authoritative instruction to do something
The judge ordered a retrial
She ordered me to leave
‘Stop frowning,’ he ordered
He ordered that the ship be abandoned
Instruction
(computing) A single operation of a processor defined by an instruction set architecture.
Order
Request (something) to be made, supplied, or served
My mate ordered the tickets last week
I asked the security guard to order me a taxi
Are you ready to order, sir?
Instruction
A set of directions provided by a manufacturer for the users of a product or service.
Order
Arrange (something) in a methodical way
Her normally well-ordered life
All entries are ordered by date
Instruction
The act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information.
Order
A condition of logical or comprehensible arrangement among the separate elements of a group.
Instruction
That which instructs, or with which one is instructed; the intelligence or information imparted
Order
A condition of methodical or prescribed arrangement among component parts such that proper functioning or appearance is achieved
Checked to see that the shipping department was in order.
Instruction
A segment of coded data that is interpreted by a computer as a command to perform an operation or series of operations. The term instruction is applied to both the electronic form of the data as represented in and executed by the computer, and to any line of written computer code which is interpreted as one instruction by a compiler. A computer program is comprised of one or more instructions.
Order
Condition or state in general
The escalator is in good working order.
Instruction
A message describing how something is to be done;
He gave directions faster than she could follow them
Order
The established system of social organization
"Every revolution exaggerates the evils of the old order" (C. Wright Mills).
Instruction
The activities of educating or instructing or teaching; activities that impart knowledge or skill;
He received no formal education
Our instruction was carefully programmed
Good teaching is seldom rewarded
Order
A condition in which freedom from disorder or disruption is maintained through respect for established authority
Finally restored order in the rebellious provinces.
Instruction
The profession of a teacher;
He prepared for teaching while still in college
Pedagogy is recognized as an important profession
Order
A sequence or arrangement of successive things
Changed the order of the files.
Instruction
(computer science) a line of code written as part of a computer program
Order
The prescribed form or customary procedure, as in a meeting or court of law
The bailiff called the court to order.
Order
An authoritative indication to be obeyed; a command or direction.
Order
A command given by a superior military officer requiring obedience, as in the execution of a task.
Order
Orders Formal written instructions to report for military duty at a specified time and place.
Order
A commission or instruction to buy, sell, or supply something.
Order
That which is supplied, bought, or sold.
Order
A request made by a customer at a restaurant for a portion of food.
Order
The food requested.
Order
(Law) A directive or command of a court.
Order
Any of several grades of the Christian ministry
The order of priesthood.
Order
Often orders The rank of an ordained Christian minister or priest.
Order
Often orders The sacrament or rite of ordination.
Order
Any of the nine grades or choirs of angels.
Order
A group of persons living under a religious rule
Order of Saint Benedict.
Order
An organization of people united by a common fraternal bond or social aim.
Order
A group of people upon whom a government or sovereign has formally conferred honor for unusual service or merit, entitling them to wear a special insignia
The Order of the Garter.
Order
The insignia worn by such people.
Order
Often orders A social class
The lower orders.
Order
A class defined by the common attributes of its members; a kind.
Order
Degree of quality or importance; rank
Poetry of a high order.
Order
Any of several styles of classical architecture characterized by the type of column and entablature employed. Of the five generally accepted classical orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders are Greek and the Tuscan and Composite orders are Roman.
Order
A style of building
A cathedral of the Gothic order.
Order
(Biology) A taxonomic category of organisms ranking above a family and below a class.
Order
The sum of the exponents to which the variables in a term are raised; degree.
Order
An indicated number of successive differentiations to be performed.
Order
The number of elements in a finite group.
Order
The number of rows or columns in a determinant or matrix.
Order
To issue a command or instruction to
Ordered the sailors to stow their gear.
Order
To direct to proceed as specified
Ordered the intruders off the property.
Order
To give a command or instruction for
The judge ordered a recount of the ballots.
Order
To request to be supplied with
Order eggs and bacon for breakfast.
Order
To put into a methodical, systematic arrangement
Ordered the books on the shelf.
Order
To predestine; ordain.
Order
To give an order or orders; request that something be done or supplied.
Order
(countable) Arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
Put the children in age order
It's arranged in order of frequency
Order
(countable) A position in an arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
Order
(uncountable) The state of being well arranged.
The house is in order; the machinery is out of order.
Order
(countable) Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance; general tranquillity; public quiet.
To preserve order in a community or an assembly
Order in the court!
Order
(countable) A command.
Give an order
His inability to follow orders
Order
(countable) A request for some product or service; a commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods.
Make an order
Receive an online order for the new range of sunglasses
Order
(countable) A group of religious adherents, especially monks or nuns, set apart within their religion by adherence to a particular rule or set of principles.
St. Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuit order in 1537.
Order
(countable) An association of knights.
The Order of the Garter, the Order of the Bath.
Order
Any group of people with common interests.
Order
(countable) A decoration, awarded by a government, a dynastic house, or a religious body to an individual, usually for distinguished service to a nation or to humanity.
Order
A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below class and above family; a taxon at that rank.
The magnolia and nutmeg families belong to the order Magnoliales.
Order
A number of things or persons arranged in a fixed or suitable place, or relative position; a rank; a row; a grade; especially, a rank or class in society; a distinct character, kind, or sort.
The higher or lower orders of society
Talent of a high order
Order
(Christianity) An ecclesiastical rank or position, usually for the sake of ministry, when plural holy orders.
There have been many major and minor orders in the history of Christianity: the order of virgins, of deacons, priests, lectors, acolytes, porters, catechists, widows, etc.
To take orders or holy orders means to be ordained a deacon or priest
Order
(architecture) The disposition of a column and its component parts, and of the entablature resting upon it, in classical architecture; hence (since the column and entablature are the characteristic features of classical architecture) a style or manner of architectural design.
Order
(cricket) The sequence in which a side’s batsmen bat; the batting order.
Order
(electronics) A power of polynomial function in an electronic circuit’s block, such as a filter, an amplifier, etc.
A 3-stage cascade of a 2nd-order bandpass Butterworth filter
Order
(chemistry) The overall power of the rate law of a chemical reaction, expressed as a polynomial function of concentrations of reactants and products.
Order
(set theory) The cardinality, or number of elements in a set, group, or other structure regardable as a set.
Order
For given group G and element g ∈ G, the smallest positive natural number n, if it exists, such that (using multiplicative notation), gn = e, where e is the identity element of G; if no such number exists, the element is said to be of infinite order (or sometimes zero order).
Order
(graph theory) The number of vertices in a graph.
Order
(order theory) A partially ordered set.
Order
(order theory) The relation on a partially ordered set that determines that it is, in fact, a partially ordered set.
Order
(algebra) The sum of the exponents on the variables in a monomial, or the highest such among all monomials in a polynomial.
A quadratic polynomial, is said to be of order (or degree) 2.
Order
(finance) A written direction to furnish someone with money or property; compare money order, postal order.
Order
(transitive) To set in some sort of order.
We need to order them alphabetically.
Order
(transitive) To arrange, set in proper order.
The books in the shelf need ordering.
Order
(transitive) To issue a command to.
To order troops to advance
He ordered me to leave.
I hate being ordered around by my co-workers.
Order
(transitive) To request some product or service; to secure by placing an order.
You can now order most products to be delivered to your home.
To order groceries
To order food from a restaurant
Order
To admit to holy orders; to ordain; to receive into the ranks of the ministry.
Order
Regular arrangement; any methodical or established succession or harmonious relation; method; system
The side chambers were . . . thirty in order.
Bright-harnessed angels sit in order serviceable.
Good order is the foundation of all good things.
Order
Right arrangement; a normal, correct, or fit condition; as, the house is in order; the machinery is out of order.
Order
The customary mode of procedure; established system, as in the conduct of debates or the transaction of business; usage; custom; fashion.
And, pregnant with his grander thought,Brought the old order into doubt.
Order
Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance; general tranquillity; public quiet; as, to preserve order in a community or an assembly.
Order
That which prescribes a method of procedure; a rule or regulation made by competent authority; as, the rules and orders of the senate.
The church hath authority to establish that for an order at one time which at another time it may abolish.
Order
A command; a mandate; a precept; a direction.
Upon this new fright, an order was made by both houses for disarming all the papists in England.
Order
Hence: A commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods; a direction, in writing, to pay money, to furnish supplies, to admit to a building, a place of entertainment, or the like; as, orders for blankets are large.
In those days were pit orders - beshrew the uncomfortable manager who abolished them.
Order
A number of things or persons arranged in a fixed or suitable place, or relative position; a rank; a row; a grade; especially, a rank or class in society; a group or division of men in the same social or other position; also, a distinct character, kind, or sort; as, the higher or lower orders of society; talent of a high order.
They are in equal order to their several ends.
Various orders various ensigns bear.
Which, to his order of mind, must have seemed little short of crime.
Order
A body of persons having some common honorary distinction or rule of obligation; esp., a body of religious persons or aggregate of convents living under a common rule; as, the Order of the Bath; the Franciscan order.
Find a barefoot brother out,One of our order, to associate me.
The venerable order of the Knights Templars.
Order
An ecclesiastical grade or rank, as of deacon, priest, or bishop; the office of the Christian ministry; - often used in the plural; as, to take orders, or to take holy orders, that is, to enter some grade of the ministry.
Order
The disposition of a column and its component parts, and of the entablature resting upon it, in classical architecture; hence (as the column and entablature are the characteristic features of classical architecture) a style or manner of architectural designing.
Order
An assemblage of genera having certain important characters in common; as, the Carnivora and Insectivora are orders of Mammalia.
Order
The placing of words and members in a sentence in such a manner as to contribute to force and beauty or clearness of expression.
Order
Rank; degree; thus, the order of a curve or surface is the same as the degree of its equation.
Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.
Order
To put in order; to reduce to a methodical arrangement; to arrange in a series, or with reference to an end. Hence, to regulate; to dispose; to direct; to rule.
To him that ordereth his conversation aright.
Warriors old with ordered spear and shield.
Order
To give an order to; to command; as, to order troops to advance.
Order
To give an order for; to secure by an order; as, to order a carriage; to order groceries.
Order
To admit to holy orders; to ordain; to receive into the ranks of the ministry.
These ordered folk be especially titled to God.
Persons presented to be ordered deacons.
Order
To give orders; to issue commands.
Order
(often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed;
The British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London
Order
A degree in a continuum of size or quantity;
It was on the order of a mile
An explosion of a low order of magnitude
Order
Established customary state (especially of society);
Order ruled in the streets
Law and order
Order
Logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements;
We shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation
Order
A condition of regular or proper arrangement;
He put his desk in order
The machine is now in working order
Order
A legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge);
A friend in New Mexico said that the order caused no trouble out there
Order
A commercial document used to request someone to supply something in return for payment and providing specifications and quantities;
IBM received an order for a hundred computers
Order
A formal association of people with similar interests;
He joined a golf club
They formed a small lunch society
Men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today
Order
A body of rules followed by an assembly
Order
(usually plural) the status or rank or office of a Christian clergyman in an ecclesiastical hierarchy;
Theologians still disagree over whether `bishop' should or should not be a separate order
Order
A group of person living under a religious rule;
The order of Saint Benedict
Order
(biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families
Order
A request for food or refreshment (as served in a restaurant or bar etc.);
I gave the waiter my order
Order
(architecture) one of original three styles of Greek architecture distinguished by the type of column and entablature used or a style developed from the original three by the Romans
Order
Putting in order;
There were mistakes in the ordering of items on the list
Order
Give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority;
I said to him to go home
She ordered him to do the shopping
The mother told the child to get dressed
Order
Make a request for something;
Order me some flowers
Order a work stoppage
Order
Issue commands or orders for
Order
Bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations;
We cannot regulate the way people dress
This town likes to regulate
Order
Bring order to or into;
Order these files
Order
Place in a certain order;
Order these files
Order
Appoint to a clerical posts;
He was ordained in the Church
Order
Arrange thoughts, ideas, temporal events, etc.;
Arrange my schedule
Set up one's life
I put these memories with those of bygone times
Order
Assign a rank or rating to;
How would you rank these students?
The restaurant is rated highly in the food guide
Common Curiosities
What is an order?
An order is a directive issued by an authority, demanding specific actions to be taken.
How important are instructions for learning?
Instructions are fundamental for effective learning, providing the necessary steps and knowledge to understand a subject or task fully.
Can instructions be mandatory?
Instructions can be mandatory, especially in contexts where following them is crucial for safety or success, but they primarily aim to inform rather than command.
Can someone give an order and instruction simultaneously?
Yes, an authority figure might issue an order and then provide instructions on how to carry it out, combining command with guidance.
How do instructions benefit the workplace?
They enhance efficiency, safety, and competency, ensuring employees understand their roles and how to perform tasks correctly.
How do cultures affect the perception of orders and instructions?
Cultural norms and values can influence how orders and instructions are given, received, and interpreted, affecting communication dynamics.
What role do orders play in emergency situations?
In emergencies, orders can facilitate quick actions and decisions to ensure safety and address critical situations effectively.
What happens if an order is not followed?
Not following an order, especially in strict hierarchical contexts like the military, can lead to disciplinary actions or consequences.
How does an instruction differ from an order?
Instructions offer guidance on how to perform tasks, aiming to educate, while orders command specific actions with an expectation of compliance.
Are orders only given in military or strict hierarchical settings?
While common in such settings, orders can also occur in any scenario where authority is exercised, including workplaces and emergency situations.
Is it possible to refuse to follow an order?
Depending on the context, refusing an order could have consequences. However, in some cases, such as if an order is unethical, refusal might be justified.
Do instructions have to be followed in a specific sequence?
Often, yes, especially if the instructions are for complex tasks or operations that require a certain sequence for optimal outcomes.
Can instructions be open to interpretation?
While instructions aim for clarity, some may require interpretation based on context, experience, or the task's nature.
How do digital platforms change the delivery of instructions?
Digital platforms can offer interactive, multimedia instructions, allowing for more engaging, accessible, and detailed guidance.
Why might detailed instructions be necessary?
Detailed instructions ensure clarity, prevent mistakes, and provide a thorough understanding of complex tasks or procedures.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
