idiom / phrasal verb · formal
get your house in order
UK/ɡet jɔː ˈhaʊs ɪn ˈɔːdə/US/ɡɛt jʊr ˈhaʊs ɪn ˈɔrdər/get·your·HOUSE·in·OR·der
to organize or fix internal problems so that things run smoothly
Examples
“Before expanding abroad, the company should get its house in order.”
“The government must get its house in order to regain public trust.”
“We need to get our house in order before recruiting new staff.”
Band 8 sentence
“If any institution wants credibility, it must first get its house in order and demonstrate accountability.”
Collocations
- get your house in order before doing something
- get the government's house in order
Word family
Common mistakes
get house in order→get your house in order
get our house on order→get our house in order
Say it for a higher band
5fix problems→6put things in order→7+get your house in order
Synonyms
put things in order
tidy up (one's affairs)
Easily confused
put things in order
“They need to put things in order before the audit.”
Related words
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