From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishordinanceor‧di‧nance /ˈɔːdənəns $ ˈɔːrdənəns/ noun [countable] 1 American EnglishSCL a law, usually of a city or town, that forbids or restricts an activity a city ordinance that says parks must be closed at 11 p.m.2 RULE/REGULATIONan order given by a ruler or governing organization a Royal ordinance
Examples from the Corpus
ordinance• But he said the specific cases did help his staff realize what kinds of establishments were not covered by the 1998 ordinance.• Without declaring for or against the coup, Sukarno issued an ordinance stating he had taken over command of the armed forces.• The city's historical commission has been working on such an ordinance for several years with no success.• At this meeting the ministers asserted that their form of Church government was established by divine ordinance.• Edgewater and Oak Hill have ordinances to protect possible archaeological sites from souvenir hunters.• The City states in its briefs that the domestic partners ordinance does not interfere with those statutes.• But the record clearly indicates that ordinance came about primarily due to the efforts of McKasson and Councilman Steve Leal.• The ordinance prohibits the sale of fireworks within city limits.• In practice this ordinance brought about little immediate change because it was introduced piecemeal into various districts.From Longman Business Dictionaryordinanceor‧di‧nance /ˈɔːdənənsˈɔːrdənəns/ noun [countable]LAW a law of a city or town that forbids or restricts an activityzoning ordinances that prohibit certain businesses from operating near churchesOrigin ordinance (1300-1400) Old French ordenance “arranging”, from Latin ordinare; → ORDAIN 