gentlemen's agreement
3
5.6
- noun
- /ˈdʒɛntəlmənz əˈɡriːmənt/
:
acuerdo verbal
- There's a gentleman's agreement on the exchange.
- call a gentlemen's agreement
- so-called gentlemen's agreement
Examples
-
We've got a gentleman's agreement.
-
In those once great days, a gentleman's agreement governed the actions of Organized Labor, government, and big business.
Blog text (32) -
What do you want, a gentleman's agreement?
-
- We have a gentleman's agreement.
-
We have a gentleman's agreement.
-
It was a gentleman's agreement.
-
In effect, a truce, or at least a gentlemen's agreement, was struck.
Academic text (1996) -
There was an agreement, a gentleman's agreement between the Palace and the press, that they would leave him alone to study without endless intrusion from paparazzi photographers.
-
They ignored the gentlemen's agreement and began to speculate on the philosophical and religious implications of the astronomy and cosmology of their day.
Academic text (1996) -
We reached a gentlemen's agreement to share resources without a formal contract.
Synonyms
∞
1.4
An agreement, often about buying or selling
∞
1.4
A promise made between two or more people, often written
203
3.7
An informal agreement between two or more people
3
3.4
People make a deal by speaking instead of writing
1
3.3
A plan for people or groups to work together without a formal contract
Antonyms
How Formal
- Formal
509
4.1
- Formal
3
2.7
- Specialized
2
4.2
3
5.6
203
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
gentlemen's + agreement
The noun 'agreement' is fully transparent, and a B1 learner who knows 'gentleman/gentlemen' will likely infer this is an agreement made between respectable people based on honour. However, the conventionalized nuance that it is specifically informal, unwritten and not legally binding depends on cultural/idiomatic knowledge of the collocation, so the full pragmatic meaning is not entirely predictable from the parts.
Etymology
The term gentlemen's agreement comes from the image of two gentlemen shaking hands to seal an agreement instead of signing papers. That's why it now means an agreement that is 'informal', 'not written down', and 'not legally binding'.