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.
In 2022, Switzerland's federal criminal court in Bellinzona cleared the two after accepting their account of a "gentlemen's agreement" for the payment.
From BBC • Mar. 3, 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
It appeared from the testimony that he had made a "gentlemen's agreement" with the Reading Railroad, the bitterest competitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, for a close alliance of interests.
From Great Fortunes from Railroads by Myers, Gustavus
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.
