unilateral
adjective
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The world is a smaller place than it used to be, and we get uncomfortable when a single nation adopts a policy of unilateralism—that is, acting independently with little regard for what the rest of the world thinks. A unilateral invasion of another country, for instance, usually looks like a grab for power and resources. But occasionally the world welcomes a unilateral action, as when the U.S. announced unilateral nuclear-arms reductions in the early 1990s. Previously, such reductions had only happened as part of bilateral ("two-sided") agreements with the old Soviet Union. Multilateral agreements, on issues such as climate change, often involve most of the world's nations.
Examples of unilateral in a Sentence
Alex De Waal, Foreign Affairs, 8 Apr. 2024
Just ahead of the October 2022 presidential election runoff between Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro, the electoral tribunal gave de Moraes unilateral power to order tech companies to remove online posts and videos under the threat of suspension in Brazil.
—Chad De Guzman, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
As to how Russia, China, or other nations will respond to this seemingly unilateral action, that remains an open question.
—Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo, Quartz, 2 Apr. 2024
Another unilateral action, applying U.S. antitrust laws against Chinese ACMD beneficiary firms, may also prove useful.
—Alden Abbott, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
Or struggle with how unjust and unilateral the relationship is?
—Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2024
This unilateral withdrawal effectively removed the limitations on Iran’s nuclear development and required an abrupt reversal of Israeli priorities.
—Anshel Pfeffer, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2024
This will require the warring parties and their allies to take unilateral steps that convey their intentions to the other side.
—Samuel Charap, Foreign Affairs, 5 Mar. 2024
Talks broke down two weeks ago after Cal State made a unilateral offer of a 5 percent pay raise.
—USA TODAY, 22 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unilateral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near unilateral
Cite this Entry
“Unilateral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unilateral. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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