ratification

noun

rat·​i·​fi·​ca·​tion ˌra-tə-fə-ˈkā-shən 

plural ratifications

: the act or process of ratifying something (such as a treaty or amendment) : formal confirmation or sanction

… the ratification of the 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery in the United States.

—Suzanne Travers

A treaty would require two-thirds approval in the Senate for ratification.

—Lois Ember

More than 100 countries signed the Rome Treaty, and it is expected that the court will come into existence within the next year or two, when it receives the necessary sixty treaty ratifications.

—Richard Falk

Examples of ratification in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

All Democratic presidential candidates have won overwhelmingly in Washington since the federal district got a vote in national elections through ratification of the 23rd Amendment in 1961. — Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 27 June 2026

The ratification ends this year’s round of negotiations with the above-the-line unions — the DGA, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA — all of which reached agreements well before their contracts expired, and without the threat of a strike. — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 26 June 2026

Rice was elected at an annual meeting where delegates also advanced a constitutional ban on SBC churches with women pastors, a measure requiring ratification next year. — ABC News, 25 June 2026

Stevens was born in 1792, less than four years after the ratification of the Constitution, and grew up in a society formed in the wake of great violence that was questionably democratic, if not outright oligarchic. — Christopher Hooks, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ratification

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration

Kids Definition

ratification

noun

rat·​i·​fi·​ca·​tion

ˌrat-ə-fə-ˈkā-shən

: the action of ratifying