negotiations definition

1. The act or process of negotiating; a treating with another respecting sale or purchase. Etc.

2. Hence, mercantile business; trading. "Who had lost, with these prizes, forty thousand pounds, after twenty years' negotiation in the East Indies." (Evelyn)

3. The transaction of business between nations; the mutual intercourse of governments by diplomatic agents, in making treaties, composing difference, etc.; as, the negotiations at Ghent. "An important negotiation with foreign powers." (Macaulay)

Origin: L. Negotiatio: cf. F. Negociation.

(01 Mar 1998)