Negotiate

How to spell negotiate

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce negotiate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does negotiate mean?

1. verbTo reach an agreement or settlement through discussion and compromise.
2. verbTo find a way over, through, or around a difficult path or obstacle.

Negotiate in a sentence

• The union will negotiate a new pay deal with management next week.

• The driver had to negotiate a series of sharp bends on the mountain road.

• Buyers often negotiate the asking price before signing the contract.

• Hikers must carefully negotiate the loose rocks near the summit.

Where does negotiate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin negotium, meaning 'business' or 'occupation', which was itself a compound formed from neg- (not) and otium (leisure or ease); so quite literally it described the absence of leisure, the busy work that fills a day. From negotium the Romans built the verb negotiari, 'to carry on business' or 'to trade', and it was this commercial sense that English absorbed in the late 1500s, at first meaning simply to do business or transact. Over time the meaning narrowed toward the to-and-fro of bargaining, the discussion through which parties reach an agreement. By the 1800s a further, more physical sense had developed: to negotiate an obstacle, as in steering a vehicle around a difficult bend. The spelling trap lives in the middle, where the 'ti' is pronounced like 'shee', tempting writers toward a phantom 'sh' that the Latin root never had.

How the word is built

• negoti- (from Latin negotium: business)
• -ate (verb suffix)