Consulting & Strategy Jargon · Managing Director level

"Order of magnitude"

"Order of magnitude" means a factor of roughly ten, used to describe how much larger or smaller one thing is compared to another.

Say this instead: ballpark scale

How "Order of magnitude" shows up at work

Borrowed from physics to make estimates sound precise in contexts where no precision exists. The person who says it in a strategy meeting usually means "a lot more" and is hoping you won't ask for an actual number.

Buzzword

The cost savings here are an order of magnitude better than our current vendor.

Plain English

The cost savings here are roughly ten times better than our current vendor.

Corporate Rank: Managing Director · Category: Consulting & Strategy Jargon

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More Consulting & Strategy Jargon: Apples to oranges · At a high level · Ballpark · Best-in-breed · Boil it down · Buy-in

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