Meaning & use
unilateral decision
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Meaning
nouncountableformal
A choice made by one person, group or country alone, without asking for the agreement of others affected.
Grammar: Takes a: she made a unilateral decision; the plural is unilateral decisions.
Patterns
- make a unilateral decision
- a unilateral decision to do something
- a unilateral decision on something
The director made a unilateral decision to close the office.
Her unilateral decision to sell the car upset the whole family.
The treaty collapsed after one country took a unilateral decision to raise tariffs.
Word forms
| plural | unilateral decisions |
|---|
Common combinations
- make a unilateral decision
- The manager made a unilateral decision about the schedule.
- take a unilateral decision
- The council took a unilateral decision to change the rules.
- a unilateral decision to
- His unilateral decision to quit shocked the team.
- criticize a unilateral decision
- Members criticized the chairman's unilateral decision.
- reverse a unilateral decision
- After the protest the board reversed its unilateral decision.
Synonyms and how they differ
- one-sided decision
- One-sided decision is plainer and more casual, while unilateral decision sounds formal and is used for politics and law.
- independent decision
- Independent decision has a neutral or positive tone, but unilateral decision implies others were left out.
- arbitrary decision
- Arbitrary stresses that there was no good reason, whereas unilateral stresses that nobody else was involved.
- dictatorial decision
- Dictatorial is stronger and suggests harsh, controlling power, but unilateral is simply about acting alone.
Opposites
Word family
- unilateral adjective
- done by one side alone
- unilaterally adverb
- in a way involving only one side
- bilateral adjective
- involving two sides
- multilateral adjective
- involving several sides
Commonly confused: unilateral decision or bilateral?
unilateral decision vs bilateral
Bilateral means involving two sides, while unilateral means only one acts.
Practice
The founder made a ___ to sell the company without telling the board.
Choose one answer.
A decision made by one person alone, without telling others, is unilateral. Joint, collective and bilateral decisions all involve other parties.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unilateral decision”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.