negotiate

English

WOTD – 21 February 2007

Alternative forms

• negociate (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin negotiatus, past participle of negotiari (“to carry on business”), from negotium (“business”) (Eng. usg. 1599), from nec (“not”) + otium (“leisure, ease, inactivity”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, /nɪˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, /nɪˈɡəʊ.si.eɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /nəˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, /nɪˈɡoʊ.ʃi.eɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /nɪˈɡəʉ.ʃi.æɪt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

negotiate (third-person singular simple present negotiates, present participle negotiating, simple past and past participle negotiated)

1. (intransitive) To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
   • 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., to the eight fellow clergymen who opposed the civil rights action, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait

     "You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."

2. (transitive) To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.
   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. […] The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

   We negotiated the contract to everyone's satisfaction.

   The client and server computers must first negotiate a network protocol to be used.

3. (transitive) To succeed in coping with, or getting over something.
   • 2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 15 November 2016:

     Novak Djokovic earlier had negotiated his own tricky passage through the fifth day.

   We negotiated the mountain track with difficulty.

   Although the car was quite rickety, he could negotiate the curves very well.

4. (transitive) To transfer to another person with all the rights of the original holder; to pass, as a bill.
5. (obsolete) To transact business; to carry on trade.
   • 1640–1706, John Evelyn, “(please specify the date of the diary entry)”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

     Jews, Turks, Armenians, […] negotiating in this famous Emporium.

6. (obsolete) To intrigue; to scheme.
   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

     Certaine it is, shee was a busie negotiating woman.

Derived terms

• negotiable
• negotiating table
• negotiation
• negotiator
• negotiatory
• renegotiate

Related terms

• otiose

Translations

confer to reach an agreement (intransitive)

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: تَفَاوَضَ‎ (tafāwaḍa)
• Armenian: բանակցել (hy) (banakcʿel)
• Bulgarian: уговарям (bg) (ugovarjam), уреждам (bg) (ureždam)
• Catalan: negociar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 談判／谈判 (zh) (tánpàn), 協商／协商 (zh) (xiéshāng), 交涉 (zh) (jiāoshè)

• Czech: vyjednávat
• Dutch: onderhandelen (nl)
• Esperanto: trakti
• Estonian: läbirääkimisi pidama (et)
• French: négocier (fr)
• Galician: negociar
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: verhandeln (de)
• Greek: διαπραγματεύομαι (el) (diapragmatévomai)
• Hungarian: tárgyal (hu)
• Italian: negoziare (it)
• Japanese: 交渉する (ja) (こうしょうする, kōshō suru), 折衝する (ja) (せっしょうする, sesshō suru)
• Korean: 교섭하다 (ko) (gyoseophada)
• Latin: agō (la)
• Latvian: vest sarunas
• Lithuanian: derėtis
• Lü: ᦏᦲᦏᦸ (ṫhiiṫhoa)
• Maori: whiriwhiri
• Mon: ပ္ညဳပ္ညပ်ဗ္ဂပ်ဖျပ်, ပ္ညဳပ္ညပ်
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Ngazidja Comorian: ufanya shauri
• Norwegian: forhandle (no)
• Occitan: negociar (oc)
• Polish: negocjować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: negociar (pt)
• Romanian: discuta (ro)
• Russian: вести́ перегово́ры impf (vestí peregovóry), провести́ перегово́ры pf (provestí peregovóry)
• Slovak: rokovať
• Spanish: negociar (es)
• Swedish: förhandla (sv), underhandla (sv)
• Thai: ต่อรอง (th) (dtɔ̀ɔ-rɔɔng)
• Turkish: müzakere (tr) etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: вести́ перегово́ри impf (vestý perehovóry)

arrange a mutual agreement (transitive)

• Bulgarian: договарям се (dogovarjam se)
• Czech: vyjednat (cs)
• Finnish: neuvotella (fi)
• French: négocier (fr)
• Galician: negociar
• German: aushandeln (de)
• Greek: διαπραγματεύομαι (el) (diapragmatévomai)
• Hungarian: megtárgyal (hu)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: whiriwhiri, whiriwhiri kōrero
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: forhandle (no), drøfte (no)
• Occitan: negociar (oc)
• Polish: uzgodnić (pl) pf, wynegocjować pf
• Portuguese: negociar (pt)
• Russian: догова́риваться (ru) impf (dogovárivatʹsja), договори́ться (ru) pf (dogovorítʹsja)
• Spanish: negociar (es)
• Swedish: förhandla (sv), underhandla (sv)
• Thai: ต่อรอง (th) (dtɔ̀ɔ-rɔɔng)
• Ukrainian: домовля́тися impf (domovljátysja), домо́витися pf (domóvytysja)

coping with, getting over

• Bulgarian: преодолявам (bg) (preodoljavam)
• French: négocier (fr)
• German: überwinden (de)
• Greek: ξεπερνάω (el) (xepernáo), περνάω (el) (pernáo)
• Hungarian: legyőz (hu), leküzd (hu)
• Maori: whiriwhiri
• Polish: pokonywać (pl) impf, pokonać (pl) pf
• Russian: преодолева́ть (ru) impf (preodolevátʹ), преодоле́ть (ru) pf (preodolétʹ)
• Swedish: klara av (sv)

Further reading

• “negotiate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “negotiate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Participle

negōtiāte

1. vocative masculine singular of negōtiātus