Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Rightly or correctly ordered, regulated, or governed.
  • In mathematics, in the theory of assemblages, said of an aggregate or set when and only when its elements have been so disposed in fact or in thought, that: of any two elements a and b, one, as a, precedes (that is, is of lower rank) and the other, as b, comes after (that is, is of higher rank);
  • of any triplet of elements a, b, c, if a is of lower rank than b, and b is lower than c, then a is lower than c;
  • the set has an element of lowest rank, a first term, and the same is true of every part of the set, that is, of every set whose elements are elements of the given set or series;
  • every element, unless it be the last, has an immediate successor;
  • the series satisfies Dedekind's postulate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having a precise arrangement.
  • adjective mathematics, not comparable Having a well-order.
  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of well-order.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective ordered well

Etymologies

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Examples

  • This procedure, while very useful for our remembering the facts in a well-ordered pattern, tends to obliterate the distinction between the actual observations and the theory arisen from them.

    September 13th, 2009 m_francis 2009

  • I had fallen through a portal and become a lightweight pawn, so easy to swipe from the well-ordered board.

    Princess Pawn Misti Rainwater-Lites 2011

  • One of his cousins called her “the presiding genius of her well-ordered household, commanding and being obeyed.”

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • Married with two children, their well-ordered lives include weekly date nights.

    Mistaken identity turns this 'Date Night' into madcap romp 2010

  • One of his cousins called her “the presiding genius of her well-ordered household, commanding and being obeyed.”

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • One of his cousins called her “the presiding genius of her well-ordered household, commanding and being obeyed.”

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • 'The Son of No One' Anchor Bay Films Channing Tatum and James Ransone in 'The Son of No One' It's understandable that Dito Montiel, being a filmmaker, would have an affinity for pre-Giuliani New York: The chaos, crime and dessication of a place consuming itself is far more cinematic than a well-ordered metropolis.

    Crime Comedy 'Heist' Lacks Conviction John Anderson 2011

  • One of his cousins called her “the presiding genius of her well-ordered household, commanding and being obeyed.”

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • The gardens stretched in a wild riot of green, though the bones of a once well-ordered series of parterres and pathways, avenues and orchards, existed still.

    Earl of Durkness Alix Rickloff 2011

  • In Gordon Brown, we have recently had a case study in how that prime ministerial style leads to the obverse of well-ordered, competent and successful government.

    Reshuffle in haste, Mr Cameron, and you will repent at leisure | Andrew Rawnsley 2011

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