multilateral
adjective
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Since lateral means "side", multilateral means basically "many-sided". The philosophy of multilateralism claims that the best solutions generally result when as many of the world's nations as possible are involved in discussions, and multilateralists often favor strengthening the United Nations. Today multilateralism can be seen at work in, for example, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the International Criminal Court. But the U.S. doesn't always join the major multilateral organizations, instead often behaving as if a unilateral approach—that is, going it alone—was best for the interests of a powerful nation.
Examples of multilateral in a Sentence
Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025
Earlier this year, Gabbard accepted an invitation from Modi to speak at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, a multilateral conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, but, before returning to Washington, Gabbard made stops in Japan, Thailand and France.
—Beatrice Peterson, ABC News, 29 May 2025
Both narratives around El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings seem to coexist without direct contradiction between the multilateral organization and the Central American country, at least for now.
—Javier Bastardo, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
Many bilateral and multilateral agreements have sprung up like mushrooms from these side conversations.
—Mary Nichols, The Conversation, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for multilateral
Cite this Entry
“Multilateral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multilateral. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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multilateral
adjective
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