negotiate

verb

ne·go·ti·ate | \ ni-ˈgō-shē-ˌāt

, nonstandard -sē-

negotiated; negotiating

Definition of negotiate

: to confer with another so as to arrive at the settlement of some matter Teachers are negotiating for higher salaries.

transitive verb

1a : to deal with (some matter or affair that requires ability for its successful handling) : manage negotiated his business deals with remarkable skill

b : to arrange for or bring about through conference, discussion, and compromise negotiate a treaty

2a : to transfer (something, such as a bill of exchange) to another by delivery or endorsement (see endorse sense 1d)

b : to convert into cash or the equivalent value negotiate a check

3a : to successfully travel along or over negotiate a turn

b : complete, accomplish negotiate the trip in two hours

Other Words from negotiate Synonyms The Controversial History of Negotiate More Example Sentences Learn More about negotiate

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Other Words from negotiate

negotiator \ ni-ˈgō-shē-ˌā-tər

, nonstandard -sē- \ noun

negotiatory \ ni-ˈgō-sh(ē-)ə-ˌtȯr-ē

, nonstandard -sē-

\ adjective

The Controversial History of Negotiate

For the first 250 years of its life, negotiate had meanings that hewed pretty closely to its Latin root, negotiari, meaning "to carry on business." Around the middle of the 19th century, though, it developed the meaning "to successfully travel along or over." Although this sense was criticized in the New York Sun in 1906 as a "barbarism creeping into the language," and Henry Fowler's 1926 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage declared that any writer who used it was "literally a barbarian," it has thrived and is now fully established.

Examples of negotiate in a Sentence

The customer wanted to negotiate over the price. She has good negotiating skills. We negotiated a fair price. The driver carefully negotiated the winding road.

Recent Examples on the Web

Chandler police soon released their own edited footage from officers' body cameras, which showed officers trying to negotiate with the father by phone before the raid. — John D'anna, Arizona Republic, "A judge ruled The Republic had violated a court order in a controversial DCS case. Now, he has reversed that ruling," 12 Sep. 2019 In 1964, George Grier, then county administrator, was traveling to New York to negotiate with Bennett Cerf to bring a Random House distribution center just outside of Westminster. — Kevin Dayhoff, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, "Dayhoff: Westminster had electricity, and a yellow light, in 1964 but much has changed since," 7 Sep. 2019 Winston eventually negotiates even more money, which Bryce is pretty chill with. — Kaitlin Reilly, refinery29.com, "R29 Binge Club: 13 Reasons Why Season 3 Recap," 24 Aug. 2019 The TB Alliance is currently negotiating a price for the latest treatment with the two pharmaceutical companies that will manufacture the drugs. — Amy Maxmen, Scientific American, "Treatment for Extreme Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Wins U.S. Government Approval," 16 Aug. 2019 The Caviar deal was negotiated with people considerations top of mind, and every single Caviar team member received an offer. — Natt Garun, The Verge, "Caviar employees claim DoorDash and Square are mistreating them over acquisition offers," 14 Aug. 2019 Virginia Roberts Giuffre, for instance, has said she was trafficked by Epstein to Alan Dershowitz, an attorney and Harvard law professor who helped negotiate the deal that kept Epstein out of prison in 2008. — Anna North, Vox, "What happens next in the legal cases involving Jeffrey Epstein," 13 Aug. 2019 The school system reached the decision after the annual contract between the county, including schools, and Waste Management Recycle America was negotiated in June. — Jess Nocera, baltimoresun.com, "Recycling in all Howard school cafeterias will end in September 2020," 17 Sep. 2019 Water districts that receive water from the Central Valley Project threatened to walk away from voluntary agreements being negotiated between them and state regulatory agencies. — Phil Willon, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Newsom plans to veto bill that would have blocked Trump’s rollback of endangered species protections," 14 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'negotiate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for negotiate

borrowed from Latin negōtiātus, past participle of negōtiārī "to do business, trade, deal," derivative of negōtium "work, business, difficulty, annoyance," from nec "not" + ōtium "free time, leisure, tranquility," of obscure origin — more at neglect entry 1

Note: The sense "to confer in order to arrive at a settlement" is probably based on Middle French negocier or Italian negoziare, which had developed this sense, not belonging to the Latin source, by the mid-16th century.

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