multilateral

See also: multilatéral

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mel-der.

Proto-Indo-European *-tósder.

Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tós?

Proto-Italic *moltos

Latin multus

Latin multīder.

Middle English multi-

English multi-

English lateral

English multilateral

From multi- + lateral.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætəɹəl

Adjective

multilateral (not comparable)

1. Having many physical sides.
2. Having many sides or points of view.
3. (politics) Involving three or more parties or nations.

   a multilateral negotiation

   • 1993, James Rochlin, Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America, page 223:

     Canada has continued to work within this agency to promote a multilateral solution to the problems of narcotrafficking and narcoterrorism.

   • 2017 February 22, Ivana Kottasova, “$1 trillion free trade agreement enters force”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 12 November 2020:

     That is a sore point for the U.S. President Trump. He has in the past spoken against multilateral trade agreements. He argued that the deals give too much advantage to America's trading partners and lead to job losses in the U.S.

Derived terms

• multilateralism
• multilateralist
• multilateralize
• multilaterally
• multilateral marriage
• multilateration
• nonmultilateral

Translations

having many sides or points of view

• Azerbaijani: çoxtərəfli
• Belarusian: многабо́чны (mnohabóčny), многабако́вы (mnohabakóvy), шматбако́вы (šmatbakóvy), многастаро́нні (mnohastarónni)
• Bulgarian: многостра́нен (bg) (mnogostránen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多邊 / 多边 (zh) (duōbiān)

• Czech: mnohostranný
• Dutch: multilateraal (nl)
• Finnish: monitahoinen
• French: multilatéral (fr)
• Georgian: მრავალმხრივი (mravalmxrivi)
• German: multilateral (de), vielseitig (de)
• Greek: πολύπλευρος (el) m (polýplevros)
• Icelandic: marghliða m
• Kazakh: көпжақты (köpjaqtı)
• Latin: multilaterālis
• Macedonian: повеќестран (poveḱestran)
• Manx: yl-heuagh
• Polish: wielostronny (pl), wieloboczny
• Portuguese: multilateral
• Russian: многосторо́нний (ru) (mnogostorónnij)
• Ukrainian: багатобі́чний (uk) (bahatobíčnyj), багатосторо́нній (uk) (bahatostorónnij), многобі́чний (mnohobíčnyj)

involving three or more parties

• Azerbaijani: çoxtərəfli
• Czech: multilaterální (cs) m, vícestranný m
• Dutch: multilateraal (nl)
• Finnish: monenkeskinen
• Georgian: მრავალმხრივი (mravalmxrivi)
• German: multilateral (de)
• Greek: πολυμερής (el) m (polymerís)
• Icelandic: marghliða m
• Latin: multilaterālis
• Macedonian: повеќестран (poveḱestran), мултилатерален (multilateralen)
• Portuguese: multilateral
• Ukrainian: багатосторо́нній (uk) (bahatostorónnij)

Noun

multilateral (plural multilaterals)

1. (politics) A group with representatives from three or more parties or nations.

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mel-der.

Proto-Indo-European *-tósder.

Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tós?

Proto-Italic *moltos

Latin multuslbor.

Portuguese multi-

Latin latus

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin laterālislbor.

Portuguese lateral

Portuguese multilateral

From multi- + lateral.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /muw.t͡ʃi.la.teˈɾaw/ [muʊ̯.t͡ʃi.la.teˈɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mul.ti.lɐ.tɨˈɾal/ [muɫ.ti.lɐ.tɨˈɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mul.ti.lɐ.tɨˈɾal/ [muɫ.ti.lɐ.tɨˈɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mul.ti.lɐ.tɨˈɾa.li/ [muɫ.ti.lɐ.tɨˈɾa.li]

• Hyphenation: mul‧ti‧la‧te‧ral

Adjective

multilateral m or f (plural multilaterais)

1. multilateral (having many sides or points of view)
2. multilateral (involving more than one party)

Further reading

• “multilateral”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “multilateral”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French multilatéral. By surface analysis, multi- + lateral.

Adjective

multilateral m or n (feminine singular multilaterală, masculine plural multilaterali, feminine/neuter plural multilaterale)

1. multilateral

Declension

Declension of multilateral

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	multilateral		multilaterală	multilaterali	multilaterale
	definite	multilateralul		multilaterala	multilateralii	multilateralele
genitive- dative	indefinite	multilateral		multilaterale	multilaterali	multilaterale
	definite	multilateralului		multilateralei	multilateralilor	multilateralelor

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mel-der.

Proto-Indo-European *-tósder.

Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tós?

Proto-Italic *moltos

Latin multusder.

Spanish multi-

Latin latus

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin laterālisder.

Spanish lateral

Spanish multilateral

From multi- + lateral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /multilateˈɾal/ [mul̪.t̪i.la.t̪eˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mul‧ti‧la‧te‧ral

Adjective

multilateral m or f (masculine and feminine plural multilaterales)

1. multilateral
   • 2015 July 31, Otto Granados, “La ‘Colección Mexicana’ en Chile: una historia de solidaridad”, in El País‎^[2], Madrid: Ediciones El País, S.L., →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 September 2015:

     Por un lado, se propuso ejecutar una política de mayor activismo y estrecho acercamiento hacia mecanismos multilaterales como el Movimiento de los países No Alineados, el Grupo de los 77 y, en general, el Tercer Mundo.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “multilateral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026