concordat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a formal agreement between the Holy See and a sovereign state regulating church affairs

   The concordat defined how bishops would be appointed and how church property would be administered.

2. 2
   noun

   a formal agreement or compact between parties

   The neighboring governments signed a concordat on the management of the river.

Borrowed through French concordat from Latin concordatum ('something agreed upon'), from concordare ('to agree, be of one mind'). The specialized church-state sense became established in early modern Europe.

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