negotiate
verbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt//
- United Kingdom//nɪˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt//
- United Kingdom//nɪˈɡəʊ.si.eɪt//
- Canada//nəˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt//
To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
verb
- 1
To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
- 2
To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.
We negotiated the contract to everyone's satisfaction.
The client and server computers must first negotiate a network protocol to be used.
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.
- 3
To succeed in coping with, getting over or navigate a hazard or obstacle.
We negotiated the mountain track with difficulty.
Although the car was quite rickety, he could negotiate the curves very well.
Novak Djokovic earlier had negotiated his own tricky passage through the fifth day.
- 4
To transfer to another person with all the rights of the original holder; to pass, as a bill.
- 5
obsoleteTo transact business; to carry on trade.
Jews, Turks, Armenians,[…]negotiating in this famous Emporium.
- 6
obsoleteTo intrigue; to scheme.
Certaine it is, shee was a busie negotiating woman.
Etymology
c. 1598; borrowed from Latin negōtiātus, perfect active participle of negōtior (“to do business, trade”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from negotium (“business”) + -or, from nec (“not”) + otium (“leisure, ease, inactivity”).
Forms
- past tense
- negotiated
- past participle
- negotiated
- present participle
- negotiating
- third person singular
- negotiates
negotiate · To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
negotiation · The process of achieving agreement through discussion.negotiator · One who negotiates.negro · Relating to a black ethnicity.