agreement

American  

[uh-gree-muhnt] / əˈgri mənt /

noun

• agreements
  plural

1. the act of agreeing or of coming to a mutual arrangement.

2. the state of being in accord.

3. an arrangement that is accepted by all parties to a transaction.

   Synonyms:

   concurrence, accord, understanding

4. a contract or other document delineating such an arrangement.

5. unanimity of opinion; harmony in feeling.

   agreement among the members of the faculty.

6. Grammar. correspondence in number, case, gender, person, or some other formal category between syntactically connected words, especially between one or more subordinate words and the word or words upon which they depend; selection by one word of the matching formal subclass, or category, in another word syntactically construed with the first.

7. collective agreement.

8. Law.

   1. an expression of assent by two or more parties to the same object.

   2. the phraseology, written or oral, of an exchange of promises.

   Synonyms:

   pact, treaty, settlement

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agreement British  

/ əˈɡriːmənt /

noun

1. the act of agreeing

2. a settlement, esp one that is legally enforceable; covenant; treaty

3. a contract or document containing such a settlement

4. the state of being of the same opinion; concord; harmony

5. the state of being similar or consistent; correspondence; conformity

6. Also called: concord.  grammar the determination of the inflectional form of one word by some grammatical feature, such as number or gender, of another word, esp one in the same sentence

7. See collective agreement national agreement

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agreement Cultural  

1. A requirement for parts of a sentence in standard written English; the parts must agree, for example, in number and person. The subject and verb of a clause or simple sentence must agree in person, as in “He is a boy.” The subject, he, and the verb, is, are both in the third person. The subject and verb also must agree in number, as in “We are girls.” The subject, we, and the verb, are, are both plural. Nouns and pronouns must also agree in number, person, and gender as in “Every boy must mind his manners.” The noun boy and the pronoun his are both singular, both in the third person, and both masculine.

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Usage

What is a basic definition of agreement? Agreement is the state or act of agreeing, meaning coming to a mutually approved arrangement. Agreement is also used to mean a deal in which all parties accept the conditions or a unity of opinion. Agreement has several other senses as a noun. Agreement is the noun form of the verb agree, which means to be in harmony of feeling or opinion. Agreement, then, means the act of agreeing or a condition in which all people are content with a situation or what they must do. The opposite of agreement is disagreement.

• Used in a sentence: I thought Jack’s plan was good and nodded my head in agreement with everything he said. 

In a similar sense, an agreement is a deal or arrangement in which all parties accept the terms. An agreement can be an unspoken pact or an actual legal document that has punishments if it isn’t followed.

• Real-life examples: In a trade agreement between the United States and Canada, both countries must approve of what they sell to each other. You might come to an agreement with your friends to split the cost of a dinner. When renting a car, a customer will sign a rental agreement that outlines how much they will pay the lender if the car is damaged.
• Used in a sentence: The United Nations negotiated a peace agreement between the two warring countries.

Synonym Usage

Agreement, bargain, compact, contract all suggest a binding arrangement between two or more parties. Agreement ranges in meaning from mutual understanding to binding obligation. Bargain applies particularly to agreements about buying and selling but also to haggling over terms in an agreement. Compact applies to treaties or alliances between nations or to solemn personal pledges. Contract is used especially in law and business for such agreements as are legally enforceable.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interagreement
  noun
• nonagreement
  noun
• preagreement
  noun
• proagreement
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• agreements
  plural

Etymology

Origin of agreement

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English agrement, from Middle French, equivalent to agree + -ment

Explanation

An agreement is made when two parties agree to something. So, for example, a mother might make an agreement with her son not to kiss him in public because, after kindergarten, well, that's just not cool. If people's opinions are in accord, or match one another, then they are in agreement. If a teacher assigns a ten-page paper due the next day, the students would be in agreement that the assignment was unfair. A written or verbal contract can also be called an agreement. An agreement to deliver an article a month for a publication could not be broken simply because you have writer's block.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

agreement agreements

The president called Friday’s agreement a “dream come true.”

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

After major league owners and players reach a new collective bargaining agreement, probably sometime next year, baseball is expected to invite bids for two expansion teams.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

The new agreement is expected to make U.S. access permanent and prohibit adversarial nations from establishing bases there.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed that the agreement will be signed at the United Nations General Assembly next week.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

I started to nod in agreement, but then I heard strange noises, a pattering, like rain, and also a distant squeaking, like a flock of birds taking flight.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Ellison and longtime Skydance investor, RedBird Capital Partners, then entered into agreements to assign some of their purchase rights to the sovereign wealth funds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

In addition, some feminists argue that women cannot voluntarily enter into surrogacy agreements because they cannot know in advance the bond they may develop with the fetus during pregnancy.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

They have acquired rivals, cut off competitors’ access to infrastructure, signed exclusive distribution agreements, and continued the platform-era monopolization playbook with little hesitation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Collaborations between retailers and manufacturers are rarely discussed openly, and often subject to nondisclosure agreements, according to lawyers who spoke with MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

In intemperate language, he questioned whether the ANC was honorable enough to abide by any agreements it signed.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Related Words

• approval
• arrangement
• charter
• compromise
• covenant
• deal
• lease
• negotiation
• pact
• protocol
• settlement
• transaction
• understanding