Agreements

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Multiple contracts or pacts created between parties that establish shared terms or responsibilities for cooperation
2. Various formal arrangements that signify mutual consent and outline obligations among involved individuals or entities
3. Collections of formal accords that denote consensus and delineate the duties or expectations shared by involved parties

Etymology: "Agreements" is simply the plural of "agreement," so its history is the history of that base word. Middle English borrowed the form "agrement" from Old French, where "agrement" meant the same thing: an agreeable settlement or acceptance between people. The French word was built from "agreer," meaning "to agree," which itself traces back through Old French "gré" (pleasure, liking, goodwill) to Latin "grātus," pleasing or welcome. So an agreement was originally a matter of being pleased with one another before it became a formal bargain. The English spelling "agreement" appeared later, with the extra "e" and the word's modern shape settling in, while the word also remains a doublet of the French "agrément," which English kept in its own separate sense of approval or consent. The English form combines "agree" with the suffix "-ment," a common ending that turns a verb into a noun for the result or act of doing it, so "agreements" is the plural of a noun for a state of mutual accord that became a legal and commercial term.

Synonyms: contracts, arrangements, settlements

Antonyms: disagreements, conflicts