treaty
UK /ˈtɹiːti/ · US /ˈtɹiti/ noun, verb
Forms treaties treatying treatied
- noun (countable, international law) A formal binding agreement concluded by subjects of international law, namely, states and international organizations; a convention, a pact. “to sign a peace treaty”
- noun (uncountable) Chiefly in in treaty: discussions or negotiations in order to reach an agreement.
- noun (countable) Chiefly in private treaty: an agreement or settlement reached following negotiations; a compact, a contract, a covenant.
- noun (uncountable) The manner or process of treating someone or something; treatment; also, the manner in which someone or something acts or behaves; behaviour.
- noun (uncountable) The addressing or consideration of a subject; discussion, treatment.
- noun (countable) A formal, systematic discourse on some subject; a treatise.
- noun (countable) An act of beseeching or entreating; an entreaty, a plea, a request.
- verb (transitive) To get into (a specific situation) through a treaty.
- verb (intransitive) To enter into a treaty.
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English trete, trety (“bargaining, negotiation; discussion; conference, meeting; entreaty, persuasion; agreement, contract, covenant; arrangement, settlement; agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; written work on a particular subject, treatise; subdivision of a written work, section”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman treté, traité, treaté, and Old French traité, traitié [and other forms] (modern French traité (“agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; treatise”)); traité or traitié is:
* a noun use of the past participle of traiter (“to treat; to deal with, handle”), from Latin tractāre, the present active infinitive of tractō (“to drag, haul, tug; to handle, manage; to debate, discuss; to exercise, practise; to perform, transact”), from trahō (“to drag, pull”) + -tō (frequentative suffix); and
* also from Latin tractātum (“written work on a particular subject, treatise”), from Latin tractātus (“dragged, hauled, tugged; handled, managed; exercised, practised; performed, transacted”), the perfect passive participle of tractō (see above).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of treating for the adjustment of differences, as for forming an agreement; negotiation. "By sly and wise treaty." Chaucer.
- noun An agreement so made; specifically, an agreement, league, or contract between two or more nations or sovereigns, formally signed by commissioners properly authorized, and solemnly ratified by the several sovereigns, or the supreme power of each state; an agreement between two or more independent states; as, a treaty of peace; a treaty of alliance.
Etymology [OE. tretee, F. traité, LL. tractatus; cf. L. tractatus a handling, treatment, consultation, tractate. See Treat, and cf. Tractate.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “treaty”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details