multilateral
adjective
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Since lateral means "side", multilateral means basically "many-sided". The philosophy of multilateralism claims that the best solutions generally result when as many of the world's nations as possible are involved in discussions, and multilateralists often favor strengthening the United Nations. Today multilateralism can be seen at work in, for example, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the International Criminal Court. But the U.S. doesn't always join the major multilateral organizations, instead often behaving as if a unilateral approach—that is, going it alone—was best for the interests of a powerful nation.
Examples of multilateral in a Sentence
Kristen Edgreen Kaufman, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Ankara, too, would have to be assured that the new Syrian government, potentially with the assistance of a multilateral monitoring and verification effort, could prevent militants in its territory from threatening Turkey.
—Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 3 Jan. 2025
There is also the issue of Europe's future security architecture, an immensely complex subject, that requires broad multilateral agreement and cannot be negotiated in 12 months.
—Shane Croucher, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 2024
One issue was whether to create a new organization to handle the funding, or leave it to the Global Environment Facility, a multilateral collection of funds created in 1991.
—Byerik Stokstad, science.org, 5 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Multilateral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multilateral. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
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multilateral
adjective
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