pact
[pakt]
- an agreement, covenant, or compact: We made a pact not to argue any more.
- an agreement or treaty between two or more nations: a pact between Germany and Italy.
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Origin of pact
1400–50; late Middle English pact(e) < Middle French < Latin pactum, noun use of neuter of past participle of pacīscī to make a bargain, contract
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
covenant, compact, transaction, protocol, deal, understanding, contract, arrangement, convention, settlement, league, alliance, concord, bargain, treaty, paper, bond, concordatExamples from the Web for pact
Contemporary Examples
The pact covered two months, September and October, but “may be extended by the parties,” the filing states.
Exclusive: Did This Manhattan Firm Help Shield a Russian Fund From Sanctions?Bill Conroy
November 10, 2014
At the same time, the Warsaw Pact threat was disintegrating.
On the left, they are hemmed in by the pact of solidarity among self-identified oppressed groups.
He fears a rural domestic backlash and continued foreign meddling as a result of the pact.
She explained that she had “made a pact with God” that if he cured her child of autism, she would share that path with the world.
Historical Examples
My pact with myself was to be revenged on him, come what might afterwards.
One Of ThemCharles James Lever
Donogan now knows whether it will become him to sign this pact with the enemy.
Lord KilgobbinCharles Lever
They failed, they broke the pact, and judgment followed them of course.
Messages from the Epistle to the HebrewsHandley C.G. Moule
The only conceivable explanation was that he had made a pact with the devil.
FolkwaysWilliam Graham Sumner
But respecting the Pact of Rome they were rather at issue with the Italians.
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2Henry Baerlein
pact
- an agreement or compact between two or more parties, nations, etc, for mutual advantage
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French pacte, from Latin pactum, from pacīscī to agree
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pact
n.
early 15c., from Old French pacte "agreement, treaty, compact" (14c.), from Latin pactum "agreement, contract, covenant," noun use of neuter past participle of pacisci "to covenant, to agree, make a treaty," from PIE root *pag- "fix, join together, unite, make firm" (cf. Sanskrit pasa- "cord, rope," Avestan pas- "to fetter," Greek pegnynai "to fix, make firm, fast or solid," Latin pangere "to fix, to fasten," Slavonic paž "wooden partition," Old English fegan "to join," fon "to catch seize").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper