stipulate
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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stipulates,
present (3rd person singular)
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stipulated,
past participle, past
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stipulating
present participle
verb (used with object)
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stipulates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stipulated,
past participle, past
-
stipulating
present participle
-
to arrange expressly or specify in terms of agreement.
to stipulate a price.
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to require as an essential condition in making an agreement.
Total disarmament was stipulated in the peace treaty.
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to promise, in making an agreement.
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Law. to accept (a proposition) without requiring that it be established by proof.
to stipulate the existence of certain facts or that an expert witness is qualified.
adjective
verb
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(tr; may take a clause as object) to specify, often as a condition of an agreement
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to insist (on) as a term of an agreement
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Roman law to make (an oral contract) in the form of question and answer necessary to render it legally valid
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(tr; may take a clause as object) to guarantee or promise
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stipulatesimple
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stipulatessimple
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have stipulatedperfect
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has stipulatedperfect
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am stipulatingprogressive
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are stipulatingprogressive
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is stipulatingprogressive
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have been stipulatingperfect progressive
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has been stipulatingperfect progressive
Past
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stipulatedsimple
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had stipulatedperfect
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was stipulatingprogressive
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were stipulatingprogressive
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had been stipulatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stipulate1
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin stipulātus (past participle of stipulārī “to demand a formal agreement”), apparently equivalent to stipul- ( see stipule) + -ātus -ate 1
Origin of stipulate2
From the New Latin word stipulātus, dating back to 1770–80. See stipule, -ate 1
Explanation
To stipulate something means to demand that it be part of an agreement. So when you make a contract or deal, you can stipulate that a certain condition must be met. Anytime you draw up a legal agreement, you can stipulate a requirement that has to be met for that agreement to be complete. This stipulation might put some sort of limit on the agreement. For example, if you run a fencing company and offer a sale, you can stipulate that to get the sale price, the fence must be ordered by a certain date. Your customer, in turn, might stipulate that the work must be finished before the ground freezes.
Vocabulary lists containing stipulate
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Great Expectations
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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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.
See Examples For:
The simplest approach would be to amend the statutory language to stipulate that, similar to the GAO, the Federal Reserve is “an instrumentality of the United States Government independent of the executive departments.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
All were required by court order to stipulate how they came to their decisions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
But its bylaws stipulate that the entity can be dissolved at any time, which means the billionaire could regain control of it as soon as his second term ends in 2029.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Martin noted some virtual jobs stipulate no promotions during onboarding, as some employers who are enforcing return-to-office rules actively favor their on-site staff for advancement.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
“Oh man. Can we stipulate right now that I’m not referring to you when I say something like that?”
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
The agreement, known as a consent decree, also stipulates that Paramount won’t sell or close its Melrose Avenue campus in Hollywood or the larger Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
Questions still linger over where the all-British bout would take place, with Eddie Hearn saying Joshua's contract stipulates the UK, but industry whispers suggesting a venue in America.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Congress stipulates in the bill that it wants these items procured under faster and more innovative acquisition processes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
This stipulates that one of the factors keeping most people from being attracted to their siblings is their close proximity as children.
From Salon ● May 21, 2010
“Tano had a lot of goons,” Autumn stipulates, finger-spelling goons.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Institute of Peace stipulated that it would be run by a board of 15 people, only eight of whom could belong to a single political party.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Department of Energy formally stipulated that none of the 284 grants terminated in October 2025 were terminated “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.”
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Privately, Paramount officials were worried they might lose that round before Martínez-Olguín so, during negotiations with the states, Paramount stipulated that it would not close the deal on its preferred timetable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
But an 1889 imperial house law stipulated that only men could become emperor, and only through the paternal line.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Although this attitude wasn’t uncommon at the time, NIH guidelines stipulated that all human subject research funded by NIH—as McKusick’s was —required both informed consent and approval from a Hopkins review board.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Aside from stipulating how to divide assets, it safeguards which children from prior relationships will receive an inheritance.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
The Uniform Code of Military Justice, or UCMJ, contains several provisions stipulating that servicemembers are liable for illegal orders even if they were given by a superior officer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
Don informs the executive committee that the health department has issued a letter stipulating what parents must do for their child to return to school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2025
Some reformers argue that this prohibition can be ignored or somehow circumvented—perhaps we could pass an amendment eliminating the clause stipulating that the Senate can’t be amended, then amend the Senate with another amendment.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2025
To become a Sixer, you had to sign a contract stipulating, among other things, that if you found Halliday’s egg, the prize would become the sole property of your employer.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
