Skip to main content
North Atlantic Treaty

North Atlantic Treaty

1 4.1
An agreement signed in 1949 where countries promise to defend each other and form NATO
  • noun
  • Formal
translation icon : Tratado del Atlántico Norte
  • The concrete is crumbling in the foundations of the labyrinth of drab low-rise buildings that house the main offices of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization just off Boulevard Leopold III in the outskirts of Brussels.
  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • NATO (North Atlantic Treaty)

Examples

  • For the first time in its history, NATO invoked Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty, which declares an attack against one of its signatories an attack on the alliance as a whole.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949 to establish NATO for mutual defense.

  • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has become as much a political alliance.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization remains today a unique and invaluable alliance.

    Academic text (2002)
  • But the North Atlantic Treaty must be amended, particularly Article 10, which currently limits new membership in NATO to European countries.

    Academic text (2006)
  • The United States took the lead in organizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in order to counter Soviet advances into Central Europe.

    Academic text (2001)
  • On September 12, 2001, NATO members took the unprecedented step of invoking the North Atlantic Treaty's collective defense provisions, under which an attack against one alliance member is deemed to be an attack against all of them.

    Academic text (2006)
  • The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe issued a similar declaration, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reasserted its own Article 5, which declares that an attack on any NATO nation constitutes an attack on all.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The United States' NATO allies invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty in deciding to join the campaign to deprive al Qaeda of its safe haven in Afghanistan.

    Academic text (2009)
  • The countries belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—"NATO forces" in the parlance of journalism—were responding in kind.

    Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

treaty
vsNorth Atlantic Treaty
  • Formal
509 4.1

A written agreement between countries about peace, trade or other relations

refers to the 1949 agreement that created mutual defense and cooperation
pact
vsNorth Atlantic Treaty
  • Formal
148 3.4

An agreement between two or more countries to work together

refers to the 1949 agreement forming a multinational defense alliance

Surface Forms

Morphology

North + Atlantic + treaty

A B1 learner who knows 'North', 'Atlantic', and 'treaty' can infer this refers to a formal agreement concerning the North Atlantic region (i.e., between countries around the North Atlantic). Although they might not deduce the specific historical fact that it created NATO in 1949, the core meaning is compositional and directly derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

North Atlantic Treaty comes from the countries around the North Atlantic who met after World War II and signed a formal treaty, a promise to help and 'defend each other'. That's why North Atlantic Treaty refers to the 1949 agreement that created NATO and made that promise official.