order of magnitude

noun

1. 1

   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

2. 2

   a number assigned to the ratio of two quantities; two quantities are of the same order of magnitude if one is less than 10 times as large as the other; the number of magnitudes that the quantities differ is specified to within a power of 10