negotiate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   discuss the terms of an arrangement

   They negotiated the sale of the house

2. 2
   verb

   To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.

   1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., to the eight fellow clergymen who opposed the civil rights action, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait "You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."

3. 3
   verb

   To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.

   We negotiated the contract to everyone's satisfaction.

4. 4
   verb

   To succeed in coping with, getting over or navigate a hazard or obstacle.

   We negotiated the mountain track with difficulty.

5. 5
   verb

   To transact business; to carry on trade.

   Jews, Turks, Armenians,[…]negotiating in this famous Emporium.

6. 6
   verb

   To intrigue; to scheme.

   Certaine it is, shee was a busie negotiating woman.

7. 7
   verb

   succeed in passing through, around, or over

8. 8
   verb

   To transfer to another person with all the rights of the original holder; to pass, as a bill.

Etymology

c. 1598; borrowed from Latin negōtiātus, perfect active participle of negōtior (“to do business, trade”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from negotium (“business”) + -or, from nec (“not”) + otium (“leisure, ease, inactivity”).