agreement

a·gree·ment (

-gr

nt)

1. The act of agreeing.

2. Harmony of opinion; accord.

3. An arrangement between parties regarding a course of action; a covenant.

4. Law

a. A properly executed and legally binding contract.

b. The writing or document embodying this contract.

5. Grammar Correspondence in gender, number, case, or person between words.

Our Living Language Speakers of vernacular dialects of English sometimes use constructions that do not conform to the standard pattern of subject-verb agreement, such as She walk, People goes, and Pat and Terry likes the new movie. The standard pattern calls for an -s ending on present-tense verbs with third-person singular subjects (such as the teacher or he/she/it) and no ending on verbs with any other kind of subject. Vernacular speakers smooth out this slight irregularity in one of two ways: They use -s endings for all persons and numbers (for example, I/you/she/we/they walks), or they use no inflection at all (for example, I/you/she/we/they go). The tendency to regularize agreement patterns is not confined to today's vernacular dialect speakers. Subject-verb agreement has gotten progressively less complicated throughout the development of English, and today's standard pattern is far simpler and more regular than the system used in older varieties of English, in which all verbs took person/number endings, in both present and past tense. Vernacular speakers who use patterns such as she go or the students walks are actively carrying on the historic tradition of simplifying agreement patterns. · Some vernacular subject-verb patterns retain historic patterns that have long faded out of general American English use. For example, speakers of Scotch-Irish heritage, including those who speak Appalachian and Ozark English, tend to preserve an agreement pattern in which the -s inflection is used more often with third-person plural subjects that refer to a group or collection of people or things than with other third-person plurals. These speakers are more likely to say People walks or A lot of them walks than The men walks or Five dogs barks. See Note at be.

agreement

Noun

1. the act or state of agreeing

2. a legally enforceable contract

Agreement

analogy

an agreement or correspondence in particular features between things otherwise dissimilar; in literature, the basis for metaphor and simile. — analogie, analogical, adj.

arbiter

one chosen to settle a controversy; an umpire or arbitrator.

arbitratrix, arbitress

a female arbiter.

armistice

a temporary cessation of hostilities, by agreement between the belligerents, prior to the negotiation or signing of a peace treaty.

comity

amity.

conciliation

the process of conciliating or bringing to agreement. — conciliator, n.

congruence

a correspondence in physical structure or thought; harmony. Also congruity. — congruent, adj.

consilience

the process of concurring or agreeing. See also chance.

consonance, consonancy

agreement, consistency.

dialogue

a frank exchange of ideas, spoken or written, for the purpose of meeting in harmony.

equipollence, equipollency

equalness of force, validity, etc. See also logic. — equipollent, adj.

indentureship

1. the state or period of being indentured or apprenticed; apprenticeship.
2. the state or period of being a servant bound to service for a specified time in return for passage to a colony.

negotiation

the act or process of conferring or discussing to reach agreement in matters of business or state. See also trade. — negotiant, negotiator, negotriatrix, n.

similarity

a point, feature, or detail in which two items are alike.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	agreement - the statement (oral or written) of an exchange of promises; "they had an agreement that they would not interfere in each other's business"; "there was an understanding between management and the workers" understanding conspiracy, confederacy - a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act fair-trade agreement - an agreement (illegal in the United States) between the manufacturer of a trademarked item of merchandise and its retail distributors to sell the item at a price at or above the price set by the manufacturer covenant - (Bible) an agreement between God and his people in which God makes certain promises and requires certain behavior from them in return unilateral contract - a one-sided agreement whereby you promise to do (or refrain from doing) something in return for a performance (not a promise) sales agreement, sale - an agreement (or contract) in which property is transferred from the seller (vendor) to the buyer (vendee) for a fixed price in money (paid or agreed to be paid by the buyer); "the salesman faxed the sales agreement to his home office" statement - a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc; "according to his statement he was in London on that day" term, condition - (usually plural) a statement of what is required as part of an agreement; "the contract set out the conditions of the lease"; "the terms of the treaty were generous" bargain, deal - an agreement between parties (usually arrived at after discussion) fixing obligations of each; "he made a bargain with the devil"; "he rose to prominence through a series of shady deals" working agreement - an informal agreement to work together gentlemen's agreement - a personal agreement based on honor and not legally binding written agreement - a legal document summarizing the agreement between parties submission - an agreement between parties in a dispute to abide by the decision of an arbiter entente, entente cordiale - a friendly understanding between political powers oral contract - an agreement that is not in writing and is not signed by the parties but is a real existing contract that lacks only the formal requirement of a memorandum to render it enforceable in litigation reservation - the written record or promise of an arrangement by which accommodations are secured in advance settlement - a conclusive resolution of a matter and disposition of it severance agreement - an agreement on the terms on which an employee will leave suicide pact - an agreement by two or more people to commit suicide together at a given place and time; "the two lovers killed themselves in a suicide pact"
	2.	agreement - compatibility of observations; "there was no agreement between theory and measurement"; "the results of two tests were in correspondence" correspondence compatibility - capability of existing or performing in harmonious or congenial combination conformance, conformity - correspondence in form or appearance
	3.	agreement - harmony of people's opinions or actions or characters; "the two parties were in agreement" accord concordance, concord, harmony - a harmonious state of things in general and of their properties (as of colors and sounds); congruity of parts with one another and with the whole community of interests, community - agreement as to goals; "the preachers and the bootleggers found they had a community of interests" meeting of minds, concurrence - a state of cooperation consensus - agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as a whole; "the lack of consensus reflected differences in theoretical positions"; "those rights and obligations are based on an unstated consensus" sense of the meeting - general agreement reached by an assembled group; "no vote was taken, but after each discussion the chair summed up the sense of the meeting" unanimity - everyone being of one mind unison - corresponding exactly; "marching in unison" social contract - an implicit agreement among people that results in the organization of society; individual surrenders liberty in return for protection disagreement, dissonance, dissension - a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters
	4.	agreement - the thing arranged or agreed to; "they made arrangements to meet in Chicago" arrangement planning, preparation, provision - the cognitive process of thinking about what you will do in the event of something happening; "his planning for retirement was hindered by several uncertainties" collusion - secret agreement prearrangement - something arranged in advance
	5.	agreement - the determination of grammatical inflection on the basis of word relations concord grammatical relation - a linguistic relation established by grammar number agreement - agreement in number between words in the same grammatical construction (e.g., between adjectives and the nouns they modify) person agreement - agreement in person between pronouns and verbs case agreement - agreement in grammatical case between words in the same construction gender agreement - agreement in grammatical gender between words in the same construction
	6.	agreement - the verbal act of agreeing speech act - the use of language to perform some act assent, acquiescence - agreement with a statement or proposal to do something; "he gave his assent eagerly"; "a murmur of acquiescence from the assembly" concurrence, concurrency - agreement of results or opinions accordance, accord, conformity - concurrence of opinion; "we are in accord with your proposal" connivance, collusion - agreement on a secret plot assenting, accession - agreeing with or consenting to (often unwillingly); "accession to such demands would set a dangerous precedent"; "assenting to the Congressional determination" subscription - agreement expressed by (or as if expressed by) signing your name ratification, confirmation - making something valid by formally ratifying or confirming it; "the ratification of the treaty"; "confirmation of the appointment" concordance, harmony, concord - agreement of opinions secondment, endorsement, indorsement, second - a speech seconding a motion; "do I hear a second?" concession - a point conceded or yielded; "they won all the concessions they asked for" disagreement - the speech act of disagreeing or arguing or disputing