Bible Dictionary
INORDINATE
Inordinate means immoderate, excessive, or improperly regulated. In biblical usage it describes uncontrolled lust or passion.
Definition
Inordinate means ill-regulated, immoderate, excessive, or improperly controlled. It describes something that exceeds proper measure or order.
Biblical Usage
In the King James Version the word appears in Ezekiel 23:11, “in her inordinate love,” and Colossians 3:5, “inordinate affection.” The Revised Version replaces these with “doting” and “passion,” respectively.
Historical Background
The word was supplied by translators where no corresponding adjective occurs in the original text. Its Latin formation means “not set in order.”
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>in-or'-di-nat ("ill-regulated," hence, "immoderate," "excessive"; Latin in, "not," ordinatus, "set in order"): Only twice in the King James Version. In each case there is no corresponding adjective in the original, but the word was inserted by the translators as being implied in the noun. It disappears in Revised Version: Eze 23:11, "in her inordinate love" (the Revised Version (British and American) "in her doting"); aghabhah, "lust"; Col 3:5 "inordinate affection" (the Revised Version (British and American) "passion"); pathos, a word which in classical Greek may have either a good or a bad sense (any affection or emotion of the mind), but in the New Testament is used only in a bad sense (passion).</p><p>D. Miall Edwards</p>