Unilateral

How to spell unilateral

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce unilateral

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unilateral mean?

1. adjectiveDone or decided by one person, group, or country alone, without the agreement of the others involved.

Unilateral in a sentence

• The company made a unilateral decision to cancel the contract.

• The government announced a unilateral ceasefire without consulting its allies.

Where does unilateral come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built entirely from Latin parts: unus, meaning 'one', joined to latus, meaning 'side', with the adjective ending -al rounding it off, so the literal sense is 'one-sided'. The element latus also lies behind 'lateral' and 'bilateral', and learning that latus means 'side' explains the single -l- in the middle of the word that writers sometimes wrongly double. Unilateral is a relatively modern formation rather than a word inherited whole from antiquity; it was assembled in English in the nineteenth century, largely for legal, diplomatic, and anatomical use, on the same pattern as the older 'bilateral'. Its core meaning, an action or decision taken by one party alone without the agreement of others, grew directly out of that 'one-sided' image. The same uni- prefix can be seen in everyday relatives such as 'unit', 'union', and 'uniform', which can help anchor the opening spelling.

How the word is built

• uni- (one)
• later- (from Latin latus: side)
• -al (adjective suffix)