What does "negotiate" mean?
Negotiate: To treat with another respecting purchase and sale or some business affair; to bargain or trade; as, to negotiate with a man for the purchase of goods or a farm.
Additional senses
- 2.To hold intercourse respecting a treaty, league, or convention; to treat with, respecting peace or commerce; to conduct communications or conferences. He that negotiates between God and man Is God's ambassador. Cowper.
- 3.To intrigue; to scheme. [Obs.] Bacon.
- 4.To carry on negotiations concerning; to procure or arrange for by negotiation; as, to negotiate peace, or an exchange. Constantinople had negotiated in the isles of the Archipelago ... the most indispensable supplies. Gibbon.
- 5.To transfer for a valuable consideration under rules of commercial law; to sell; to pass. The notes were not negotiated to them in the usual course of business or trade. Kent.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00