negotiate
verb
Simple meaning
To confer with others to come to terms or reach an agreement.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nuhgohsheeaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nəˈɡoʊʃieɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
Succeed in passing through, around, or over
transitive
To succeed in coping with, getting over or navigate a hazard or obstacle.
transitive
To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.
transitive
To transfer to another person with all the rights of the original holder; to pass, as a bill.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.
Used this way, negotiate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who negotiates (confers with others in order to reach a settlement).
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- bargainingnoun
- surrenderverb
- negotiationnoun
- talksnoun
- treatynoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.