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Webster 1913 Edition


Negotiate

Ne-go′ti-ate

,
Verb.
I.
[L.
negotiatus
, p. p. of
negotiari
, fr.
negotium
business;
nec
not +
otium
leisure. Cf.
Neglect
.]
1.
To transact business; to carry on trade.
[Obs.]
Hammond.
2.
To treat with another respecting purchase and sale or some business affair; to bargain or trade;
as, to
negotiate
with a man for the purchase of goods or a farm
.
3.
To hold intercourse respecting a treaty, league, convention, or other proposed agreement; to treat with, respecting peace or commerce; to conduct communications or conferences.
He that
negotiates
between God and man
Is God’s ambassador.
Cowper.
4.
To intrigue; to scheme.
[Obs.]
Bacon.

Ne-go′ti-ate

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Negotiated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Negotiating
.]
1.
To carry on negotiations concerning; to procure or arrange for by negotiation;
as, to
negotiate
peace, or an exchange
.
Constantinople had
negotiated
in the isles of the Archipelago . . . the most indispensable supplies.
Gibbon.
2.
To transfer for a valuable consideration under rules of commercial law; to sell; to pass.
The notes were not
negotiated
to them in the usual course of business or trade.
Kent.

Webster 1828 Edition


Negotiate

NEGOTIATE

,
Verb.
I.
[ L. An errand, business; to go on errands, to negotiate.]
1.
To transact business; to treat with another respecting purchase and sale; to hold intercourse in bargaining or trade, either in person or by a broker or substitute; as, to negotiate with a man for the purchase of goods or a farm.
2.
To hold intercourse with another respecting a treaty, league or convention; to treat with respecting peace or commerce.
It is a crime for an embassador to betray his prince for whom he should negotiate.

NEGOTIATE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To procure by mutual intercourse and agreement with another; as, to negotiate a loan of money.
Ship brokers and interpreters negotiate affreightments.
2.
To procure, make or establish by mutual intercourse and agreement with others. Mr. Jay negotiated a treaty with the British ministry in 1794.
3.
To sell; to pass; to transfer for a valuable consideration; as, to negotiate a bill of exchange.
The notes were not negotiated to them in the usual course of business or trade.

Definition 2024


negotiate

negotiate

English

Verb

negotiate (third-person singular simple present negotiates, present participle negotiating, simple past and past participle negotiated)

  1. (intransitive) To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
    • 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., to the eight fellow clergymen who opposed the civil rights action, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait
      "You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."
  2. (transitive) To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.
    • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
      Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. [] The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.
    We negotiated the contract to everyone's satisfaction.
  3. (transitive) To succeed in coping with, or getting over something.
    We negotiated the mountain track with difficulty.
    Although the car was quite rickety, he could negotiate the curves very well.
  4. (obsolete) To transact business; to carry on trade.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Hammond to this entry?)
  5. (obsolete) To intrigue; to scheme.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Derived terms

Translations

External links

  • negotiate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • negotiate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Latin

Participle

negōtiāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of negōtiātus