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Like many terms used in the legal profession, stipulate, an English word since the 17th century, has its roots in Latin. It comes from stipulatus, the past participle of stipulari, a verb meaning “to demand a guarantee (from a prospective debtor).” In Roman law, oral contracts were deemed valid only if they followed a proper question-and-answer format; stipulate was sometimes used specifically of this same process of contract making, though it also could be used more generally for any means of making a contract or agreement. The “to specify as a condition or requirement” meaning of stipulate also dates to the 17th century, and is the sense of the word most often encountered today.
Examples of stipulate in a Sentence
Kate Talerico, Mercury News, 10 Sep. 2025
By contrast, Article 5 stipulates an attack on one ally is considered as an attack against all allies.
—Brendan Cole
shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Sep. 2025
In other words, the Utah law doesn’t try to ban such AI usage and instead stipulates that necessary AI safeguards must be put into action.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
The agreement was sealed at the end of 2022 with H&M Group and stipulates that the solar park will provide the Swedish fashion retailer with 95 percent of the renewable energy and guarantees of origin produced.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stipulate
Cite this Entry
“Stipulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stipulate. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
stipulate
verb
Louisiana Civil CodeNational Law JournalLuna v. Meinke, 844 F. Supp. 1284 (1994)West v. Bank of Commerce & Trusts, 167 F.2d 664 (1948)National Law JournalVerb
Latin stipulatus, past participle of stipulari to exact (as from a prospective debtor) a formal guarantee when making an oral contract
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