Negotiate
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, /nɪˈɡəʊ.si.eɪt/
- US IPA: /nəˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, /nɪˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt/
Origin
From Latin negotiatus, past participle of negotiari ("to carry on business"), from negotium ("business") (Eng. usg. 1599), from nec ("not") + otium ("leisure, ease, inactivity").
Full definition of negotiate
Verb
- (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."
- (transitive) To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.
- 2013-07-19, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, 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.
- (transitive) To succeed in coping with, or getting over something.
- 2012, June 29, Kevin Mitchell, Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau, Novak Djokovic earlier had negotiated his own tricky passage through the fifth day.
- We negotiated the mountain track with difficulty.Although the car was quite rickety, he could negotiate the curves very well.
- (obsolete) To transact business; to carry on trade.
- (obsolete) To intrigue; to scheme.