agree
See also: agrée and agréé
English
Etymology
From Middle English agreen, from Old French agreer (“to accept or receive kindly”), from a gré (“favorably”), from Latin ad (“to”) + gratum (“pleasing”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- (“to welcome, greet, praise”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: ə-grē', IPA(key): /əˈɡɹiː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /əˈɡɹi/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iː
- Hyphenation: a‧gree
Verb
agree (third-person singular simple present agrees, present participle agreeing, simple past and past participle agreed)
- (intransitive) To be in harmony about an opinion, statement, or action; to have a consistent idea between two or more people.
- Synonym: concur
- all parties agree in the expediency of the law.
- I mostly agree with what you said, but I consider your last point to be unfair.
- I couldn't agree more with what you say.
- 1594, Thomas Lodge, The wounds of civil war: Lively set forth in the true tragedies of Marius and Scilla, page 46:
- You know that in so great a state as this, Two mightie foes can never well agree.
- 2018, Jon Stone, “Brexit: No significant progress made on any issue in negotiations since March, says EU (The Independent)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- Theresa May’s cabinet repeatedly fails to agree with itself on what customs arrangement it wants with the EU after Brexit
- 1599, “(please specify the chapter or poem)”, in The Passionate Pilgrime. […], 2nd edition, London: […] [Thomas Judson] for W[illiam] Iaggard, and are to be sold by W[illiam] Leake, […], OCLC 932919281:
- If music and sweet poetry agree.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Mark 14:56:
- For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
- 1725, Homer; [Alexander Pope], transl., “(please specify the book or chapter of the Odyssey)”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume V, London: […] Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646:
- The more you agree together, the less hurt can your enemies do you.
- (intransitive, followed by "to") To give assent; to accede
- to agree to an offer, or to opinion.
- The workers didn not agree to the new terms offered by the trade union.
- (transitive, UK, Ireland) To yield assent to; to approve.
- 1666, Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, page 88:
- ... and there, after a good while in discourse, we did agree a bargain of £5,000 with Sir Roger Cuttance for my Lord Sandwich for silk, cinnamon, ...
- 2005, Paddy McNutt, Law, economics and antitrust: towards a new perspective, page 59:
- The essential idea is that parties should enter the market, choose their contractors, set their own terms and agree a bargain.
- 2011 April 3, John Burke, in The Sunday Business Post:
- Bishops agree sex abuse rules
-
- (intransitive) To make a stipulation by way of settling differences or determining a price; to exchange promises; to come to terms or to a common resolve; to promise.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matt 5:25:
- Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matt 20:13:
- But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
-
- (intransitive) To resemble; to coincide; to correspond.
- the picture does not agree with the original; the two scales agree exactly.
- (intransitive, now always with with) To suit or be adapted in its effects; to do well.
- the same food does not agree with every constitution.
- (intransitive, grammar) To correspond to (another word) in a grammatical category, such as gender, number, case, or person.
- In Romanian, all articles, adjectives, and pronouns agree in gender, number and case with the noun they refer to.
- (intransitive, law) To consent to a contract or to an element of a contract.
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
- This is a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
- The transitive usage could be considered as just an omission of to or upon.
- US and Canadian English do not use the transitive form. Thus "they agreed on a price" or "they agreed to the conditions" are used in North America but not "they agreed a price" or "they agreed the conditions".
Synonyms
- (harmonize in opinion): concur, harmonize; See also Thesaurus:agree
- (yield assent): accede, come around, give way; See also Thesaurus:accede or Thesaurus:assent
- (yield assent to): approve, set
- (come to terms or to a common resolve): bargain, deal, engage; See also Thesaurus:bargain
- (be conformable): coincide, correspond, match, resemble
- (do well): fit, suit
- (grammar):
- (law):
Antonyms
- disagree
Derived terms
- agree to disagree
- agreeable
- agreer
- agree with
- disagree
- agreement
- pre-agree
Related terms
- gree
Translations
harmonize in opinion; be in unison or concord; be united; concur
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to yield assent, to accede
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to come to terms or to a common resolve
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to resemble, coincide, correspond
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to do well
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grammar: to correspond in gender, number, case, person, etc.
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading
- agree in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- agree in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
Anagrams
- Eager, aeger, eager, eagre, geare, æger
Galo
Noun
agree
- rainbow
Middle English
Verb
agree
- Alternative form of agreen
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English agreen, from Old French agreer.
Verb
agree (third-person singular simple present agrees, present participle agreein, simple past agreed, past participle agreed)
- to consent to
- (occasionally) to suffer no injury from (sth)
References
- “agree, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.