unilateral

adjective uni·lat·er·al \ ˌyü-ni-ˈla-tə-rəl , -ˈla-trəl \

Updated on: 15 May 2018

Definition of unilateral

1 a : done or undertaken by one person or party

b : of, relating to, or affecting one side of a subject : one-sided

c : constituting or relating to a contract or engagement by which an express obligation to do or forbear is imposed on only one party

2 a : having parts arranged on one side

a unilateral raceme

b : occurring on, performed on, or affecting one side of the body or one of its parts

unilateral exophthalmos

3 : unilineal

4 : having only one side

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unilaterally

adverb

See unilateral defined for English-language learners

See unilateral defined for kids

Examples of unilateral in a Sentence

Our country is prepared to take unilateral action.

Recent Examples of unilateral from the Web

The exiled leader sent the messages to Toni Comm, a senator for the Catalan Republic Left (ERC) who also fled to Brussels with him to escape charges for involvement in last year's unilateral declaration of independence.

— jeremy wallace, Houston Chronicle, "Texas violated federal voting laws, judge rules," 11 May 2018
Its strategy now is simple, and the same as in the past: focusing on and thus recognizing the legitimacy and power of international institutions and prioritizing dialogue over unilateral and hasty decisions.

— tobias schumacher, The New Republic, "The Long-Suffering Europeans Trying to Save the Iran Deal," 3 May 2018
On paper, Gallagher had no unilateral authority to fire Socolovsky.

— sarah jones, The New Republic, "Inside the Spectacular Implosion of Religion News Service," 27 Apr. 2018
Axios's Jonathan Swan reports the president wants Congress to give him unilateral authority to raise tariffs, a grab that would kneecap the World Trade Organization.

— tory newmyer, Washington Post, "The Finance 202: Trump's trade agenda faces key test at G-20 meeting," 19 Mar. 2018
How does giving unilateral authority to one man to greenlight pipeline projects benefit our children?

— alyssa milano, Vogue, "What Donald Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Means For My Family— And For Yours," 14 Feb. 2018
Ostensibly, there is now a consensus that such conduct disqualifies a person from a low-level Executive branch appointment — but not for unilateral command of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump Can’t Decide If Pruitt Is Too Corrupt to Lead the EPA – Or Just Corrupt Enough to Be His Attorney General," 5 Apr. 2018
Generally speaking, though, Francis’s unilateral approach to advocacy has been unconventional.

— tara isabella burton, Vox, "The conservative case against Pope Francis — and why it matters," 5 Apr. 2018
Single-leg, or unilateral, movements are those performed with the support and power of just one leg.

— jenny mccoy, SELF, "Victoria’s Secret Model Romee Strijd Strengthens Her Glutes With This Lower-Body Move," 27 Feb. 2018

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

Did You Know?

The world is a smaller place than it used to be, and we get uncomfortable when a single nation adopts a policy of unilateralism—that is, acting independently with little regard for what the rest of the world thinks. A unilateral invasion of another country, for instance, usually looks like a grab for power and resources. But occasionally the world welcomes a unilateral action, as when the U.S. announced unilateral nuclear-arms reductions in the early 1990s. Previously, such reductions had only happened as part of bilateral ("two-sided") agreements with the old Soviet Union. Multilateral agreements, on issues such as climate change, often involve most of the world's nations.