Meaning & use
unanimous decision
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A choice or ruling that every person voting or judging agrees on, with nobody against it.
Grammar: Countable: the jury reached an unanimous decision.
Patterns
- reach a unanimous decision
- by unanimous decision
The jury reached an unanimous decision after only two hours.
The board made an unanimous decision to close the factory.
By unanimous decision, the committee chose Dr. Patel as chair.
nouncountablesport
In boxing and similar sports, a win in which all of the judges score the fight for the same fighter.
Grammar: Often follows win or by: he won by unanimous decision.
Patterns
- win by unanimous decision
- a unanimous decision victory
The champion retained his title by unanimous decision.
She won the fight by unanimous decision after twelve rounds.
It was a clear unanimous decision victory for the visitor.
Word forms
| plural | unanimous decisions |
|---|
Common combinations
- reach a unanimous decision
- The panel reached an unanimous decision on the award.
- by unanimous decision
- The motion passed by unanimous decision.
- win by unanimous decision
- The boxer won by unanimous decision.
- a unanimous decision of the court
- An unanimous decision of the court ended the case.
- announce a unanimous decision
- The chairman announced an unanimous decision to everyone's relief.
Synonyms and how they differ
- consensus
- Consensus means general agreement and may leave out a few people, but an unanimous decision allows no one to disagree.
- joint decision
- Joint decision means two or more people decided together, but it need not involve a vote or total agreement.
- collective decision
- Collective decision stresses that a group decided, whereas unanimous decision stresses that all of them agreed.
- unanimous verdict
- Unanimous verdict is the usual phrase when a jury agrees, while unanimous decision also covers boards, committees and judges.
Opposites
Word family
- unanimous adjective
- agreed on by everyone
- unanimously adverb
- with everyone agreeing
- unanimity noun
- complete agreement
- decision noun
- a choice made after thought
Commonly confused: unanimous decision or consensus?
unanimous decision vs consensus
Consensus means broad general agreement that may leave a few people out, but unanimous means every single person agrees.
Practice
The vote was ___, with all twelve members raising their hands in favor.
Choose one answer.
All twelve agreed, which is an unanimous decision. A split decision or majority would mean some people disagreed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unanimous decision”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.