order of magnitude

(noun) a degree in a continuum of size or quantity. Synonyms: order, order of magnitude. Examples: "It was on the order of a mile." "An explosion of a low order of magnitude."

(noun) 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. Synonyms: order of magnitude, magnitude.