under orders

by A. Makkai, M.T. Boatner, J.E. Gates

[under orders] {adv. phr.}

Not out of one's own desire or one's own free will; obligatorily; not freely.

* /"So you were a Nazi prison guard? " the judge asked. "Yes, your Honor," the man answered, "but I was acting under orders and not because I wished to harm anyone."/

Tags:


	desire ⁸ {adv. phr.} ⁵⁸³

Source: A Dictionary of American Idioms

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