multilateral

[muhl-ti-lat-er-uhl]

adjective

1. having several or many sides; many-sided.

2. participated in by more than two nations, parties, etc.; multipartite.

   multilateral agreements on disarmament.

multilateral

/ ˌmʌltɪˈlætərəl, -ˈlætrəl /

adjective

1. of or involving more than two nations or parties

   a multilateral pact

2. having many sides

Other Word Forms

• multilateralism noun
• multilateralist adjective
• multilaterally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of multilateral¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; multi- + lateral

Example Sentences

Kim Jong Un's arrival in China for his first ever multilateral meeting was always going to make headlines.

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The "Victory Day" parade, which takes place on Wednesday, will see Kim rub shoulders with China's President Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and other world leaders - making it his first multilateral international meeting.

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The Foreign Office said bilateral support - aid going directly to the recipient country - for some countries would decrease and multilateral organisations deemed to be underperforming would face future funding cuts.

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"Canada's preference has always been a multilateral agreement related to digital services taxation," the statement added.

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It is a country where the multilateral organisations - the United Nations and the African Union - could still be relevant.

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