Capitulations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of formal agreements or terms that outline conditions for surrender in a military context
2. the act of yielding or giving in, often under pressure or negotiation
3. legal documents that specify terms of trade or other concessions between parties

Etymology: "Capitulations" is the plural of "capitulation," a noun for the act of giving in, especially when pressed by force or talks. The plural form is most often met in military and diplomatic contexts, where several surrenders or terms of surrender are being described together. Its root is "capitulate," which itself traces back to the Latin "capitulum," a diminutive of "caput," meaning "head." The idea behind the root is literal: "capitulum" meant a little head, and by extension a heading or section of a document, as in a chapter or a set of articles. A "capitulation" was originally an agreement drawn up under headings, a list of terms negotiated point by point. Over time the sense shifted from the document to the outcome, so that agreeing to the terms came to mean giving in to them. The noun reached English through Middle French "capitulation," which carried the same sense of an agreed set of conditions. Its ancestry goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root "*kap-," tied to the idea of the head, which is also the source of the Latin "caput."

Synonyms: surrenders, yieldings, submissions, concessions, agreement

Antonyms: resistances, defenses