gentlemen's agreement
Americannoun
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an agreement that, although unenforceable at law, is binding as a matter of personal honor.
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an unwritten agreement by a socially prominent clique, private club, etc., to discriminate against or refuse to accept members of certain religious, racial, national, or other groups.
noun
Etymology
Origin of gentlemen's agreement
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Leverkusen had a gentlemen's agreement with Alonso by which he could leave if one of this former clubs came calling, a door open to Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real.
From BBC • May 12, 2025
Oxfam similarly criticized an “old gentlemen’s agreement of World Bank and IMF appointments,” saying it should have been a more transparent and merit-based global process.
From Washington Post • Feb. 23, 2023
“We made a gentlemen’s agreement that we’ll play and then we’ll figure it out,” Olivas said.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 30, 2021
That gentlemen’s agreement reached in 1959 bans military activity on the continent and aims to preserve it as one of the world’s last wildernesses; a related pact prohibits mining.
From New York Times • May 3, 2015
"Unless you regard an appointment as a gentlemen's agreement, and to be kept," marked Len Spencer, rather severely.
From The Grammar School Boys in Summer Athletics by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
