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
James McNicholas, New York Times, 16 May 2025
Russia effectively rejected a 30-day unconditional truce; the Kremlin instead declared two short, unilateral ceasefires for holidays in the last two months -– one for 30 hours at Easter and another for 72 hours to coincide with Russia’s World War II Victory Day celebrations.
—Dasha Litvinova, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2025
Unlike his predecessors, Trump emphasizes unilateral economic gains, evident in his leaning to lift AI export curbs for the UAE and decoupling Saudi-Israel normalization from nuclear cooperation.
—Guney Yildiz, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025
Moscow’s proposals Putin said that Russia proposed several ceasefires in recent months — a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure, which Ukraine had agreed to, a unilateral 30-hour Easter truce and another unilateral ceasefire that began Friday and expired Saturday.
—Samya Kullab, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for unilateral
Cite this Entry
“Unilateral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unilateral. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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