out of order

idiom

: not working properly : not able to be used

The elevator's out of order again.

: not following the formal rules of a meeting, court session, etc.

At the last town council meeting, her proposal was ruled out of order by the mayor.

The mayor ruled her out of order.

British, informal : beyond what is reasonable or allowable : not right or appropriate

Your behavior was completely out of order.

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Additionally, 87% of the ship’s fire stations were out of order. —

Megan Rose, ProPublica, 30 Sep. 2022 That would have to be flying through clouds on instruments only, with some of those instruments out of order. —

Fox News, 28 Aug. 2021 Purposely wearing one out of order sends a disapproving ripple throughout the household. —

Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 3 Nov. 2021 Entergy said that 216 substations, 207 transmission lines, and more than 2,000 miles of its transmission lines were out of order in Louisiana and Mississippi. —

Will Englund, Marc Fisher And Jacob Bogage, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Aug. 2021 Robbie wisely leans into the cartoonish aspects of the character, and Yan lets her voice-over yank the timeline out of order and splashes graphics on the screen to accompany her more exaggerated affect. —

James Grebey, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2021 Hand washing sink in the kitchen and restroom are out of order. —

Arkansas Online, 11 Apr. 2021 One track is out of order: a minute-long recording of bells at the end. —

Daniel Bromfield, SPIN, 27 Apr. 2023 Oh, and the phone that connects him to the lobby of the building is out of order. —

Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'out of order.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.