20 Synonyms for “Law,” “Order,” or “Rule”

Many words exist that refer to an expectation expressed by an authoritative person or entity, and sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish such terms when one tries to convey a reference to a law, an order, or a rule. Here are some synonyms for those words, along with definitions.

1. Behest: an order or prompting

2. Charge: an order, or information given to a jury about the applicability of law to a specific case

3. Command: an order, especially one given by a superior officer in a military or law enforcement hierarchy, or a signal that leads to an action

4. Commandment: something ordered

5. Decree: an order, or a decision by a judicial or religious official

6. Demand: an order with an expectation of compliance and a consequence for noncompliance

7. Dictate: an order or rule; also synonymous with injunction and prescription

8. Direction: an order, or an indication of how actions should occur in a performance or how music should be played

9. Directive: an order issued by a government entity, an official, or an organization

10. Edict: an order or proclamation

11. Imperative: an order or a rule, or a similar statement

12. Injunction: an order, or a legal requirement to do or not do something

13. Instruction: an order or direction; also synonymous with precept

14. Mandate: an order handed down from one court or other judicial body to another, or an authorization granted to a government official or a government, an order for establishment of a government, or a territory under such an order

15. Ordinance: a law or order established by a government entity, especially on the municipal level, a specified ceremony or custom, or something ordered by a god or determined by fate

16. Precept: an order given to an official by the person’s superior, or an order or a principle that is to be considered a general rule

17. Prescription: a right or title, an establishment of a rule, a claim or rule or tradition based on custom, a direction for preparation and/or use of a medicine or similar treatment, or the medicine or treatment itself

18. Regulation: a procedural rule, or an order enforceable by a government agency, or the act or state of developing one or more such rules

19. Statute: a law developed by a government’s legislative branch, the documentation for creating an agency and specifying its authority and scope, or a rule established by a corporation

20. Word: a direction or order