treaty

English Online Dictionary. What means treaty‎? What does treaty mean?

English

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English trete, trety (“bargaining, negotiation; discussion; conference, meeting; entreaty, persuasion; agreement, contract, covenant; arrangement, settlement; agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; written work on a particular subject, treatise; subdivision of a written work, section”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman treté, traité, treaté, and Old French traité, traitié [and other forms] (modern French traité (“agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; treatise”)); traité or traitié is:

• a noun use of the past participle of traiter (“to treat; to deal with, handle”), from Latin tractāre, the present active infinitive of tractō (“to drag, haul, tug; to handle, manage; to debate, discuss; to exercise, practise; to perform, transact”), from trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to drag, pull (?)”), a variant of *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)) + -tō (frequentative suffix); and
• also from Latin tractātum (“written work on a particular subject, treatise”), from Latin tractātus (“dragged, hauled, tugged; handled, managed; exercised, practised; performed, transacted”), the perfect passive participle of tractō (see above).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiːti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiti/, /-ɾi/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiːti/, /ˈtɹiːəti/
• Rhymes: -iːti
• Hyphenation: trea‧ty

Noun

treaty (countable and uncountable, plural treaties)

1. (countable, international law) A formal binding agreement concluded by subjects of international law, namely, states and international organizations; a convention, a pact.
2. (archaic)
   1. (uncountable) Chiefly in in treaty: discussions or negotiations in order to reach an agreement.
   2. (countable) Chiefly in private treaty: an agreement or settlement reached following negotiations; a compact, a contract, a covenant.
3. (obsolete)
   1. (uncountable) The manner or process of treating someone or something; treatment; also, the manner in which someone or something acts or behaves; behaviour.
   2. (uncountable) The addressing or consideration of a subject; discussion, treatment.
   3. (countable) A formal, systematic discourse on some subject; a treatise.
   4. (countable) An act of beseeeching or entreating; an entreaty, a plea, a request.

Coordinate terms

• concordat

Derived terms

• peace treaty
• treaty battleship
• treatyless
• treatymaker
• treatymaking
• Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance
• treaty port
• unequal treaty

Related terms

Translations

See also

• protocol
• exchange of letters
• exchange of notes

Verb

treaty (third-person singular simple present treaties, present participle treatying, simple past and past participle treatied)

1. (transitive) To get into (a specific situation) through a treaty.
2. (intransitive) To enter into a treaty.

Translations

References

Further reading

• “treaty”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “treaty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “treaty”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• attery, yatter