co-sign

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive or intransitive

   to sign a document, especially a loan or lease, together with another person, agreeing to be responsible if that person fails to pay.

   Grammar: Can take an object (co-sign a loan) or be used without one (He agreed to co-sign).

   Patterns

   • co-sign a loan
   • co-sign for someone
   • co-sign a lease

   Her father had to co-sign the car loan because she had no credit history.

   Will you co-sign for me so I can get the apartment?

   The bank requires a parent to co-sign if the student has no income.

2. 2verbtransitive

   to sign a document together with someone else to show that you both agree with it.

   Grammar: Takes an object: co-sign a letter.

   Patterns

   • co-sign a letter
   • co-sign a petition
   • co-sign a statement

   Several senators co-signed the letter to the president.

   The two leaders co-signed the peace agreement.

   She asked her colleague to co-sign the petition.

Word forms

Common combinations

co-sign a loan

He agreed to co-sign a loan for his brother.

co-sign for someone

She co-signed for her son's first credit card.

co-sign a lease

The landlord asked me to co-sign the lease.

co-sign a petition

Over a thousand people co-signed the petition.

Synonyms and how they differ

guarantee

Means to promise to pay someone else's debt; co-sign specifically involves signing a document as a second signer.

endorse

Can mean to sign the back of a check or to publicly support someone; co-sign is more specific to signing a document together.

Word family

co-signer noun

A person who co-signs a document, especially a loan.

co-signatory noun

A person or country that signs an agreement along with others.

Commonly confused: co-sign or cosign?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “co-sign”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words