negotiate

verb ne·go·ti·ate \ ni-ˈgō-shē-ˌāt , nonstandard -sē- \

|Updated on: 16 Jun 2018

Examples: negotiate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: The Controversial History of negotiate

Definition of negotiate

negotiated; negotiating

intransitive verb

: to confer with another so as to arrive at the settlement of some matter

Teachers are negotiating for higher salaries.

transitive verb

1 a : 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

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

b : to convert into cash or the equivalent value

negotiate a check

3 a : to successfully travel along or over

negotiate a turn

b : complete, accomplish

negotiate the trip in two hours

—

negotiator

play \ni-ˈgō-shē-ˌā-tər, nonstandard -sē-\ noun

—

negotiatory

play \ni-ˈgō-sh(ē-)ə-ˌtȯr-ē, nonstandard -sē-\ adjective

See negotiate defined for English-language learners

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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 of negotiate from the Web

The other side is how receptive Lyon are to Liverpool re-negotiating the deal after what’s happened.

— SI.com, "Report Claims Liverpool Are Set to Re-Ignite Their Interest in French Star Nabil Fekir," 13 June 2018
Mack supported this important renewable energy project and negotiated both energy savings and tax benefits for the Town of Suffield.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The Windsor Locks Edition," 12 June 2018
Japan, China, South Korea, and Russia – which shares an 11-mile border with North Korea – have done more than wait as Washington and Pyongyang negotiated this meeting.

— michael holtz, The Christian Science Monitor, "On sidelines of two-man summit, North Korea’s neighbors watch carefully," 11 June 2018
Advance teams from North Korea and the U.S. have spent recent weeks in Singapore negotiating everything from presidential hotels to seating charts and lunch breaks during the summit.

— andy sharp, Bloomberg.com, "Here’s What to Watch for When Trump and Kim Meet," 11 June 2018
One challenge focused on trimming the restaurant’s cost of goods, and resulted in rethinking the portion size of a dumpling order, negotiating better prices for cheddar cheese, and adding two more beer taps to help increase alcohol sales.

— janelle nanos, BostonGlobe.com, "For more Boston restaurants, staying in business means being an open book," 8 June 2018
When Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan began speaking, Trump within 10 seconds moved the conversation to negotiating airplane prices.

— josh dawsey, chicagotribune.com, "In private FEMA remarks, Trump's focus strays from hurricanes," 7 June 2018
Part of the plan would allow the government to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower prices — a campaign idea of Trump’s that wasn’t addressed in a plan released earlier this month.

— nicole gaudiano, USA TODAY, "Van Hollen: Health care costs, not Russia, will drive voters in 2018," 24 May 2018
The board earlier entered into a Guaranteed Savings contract with Bowen Engineering, providing for guaranteed negotiated prices of $4 million for the lift station 2 project and $2.5 million for the main lift station.

— karen caffarini, Post-Tribune, "Hobart board OKs $15.5 million funding plan for projects," 23 May 2018

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.

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.

Origin and Etymology of 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 ¹neglect

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.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1598

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

See Words from the same year