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Pact has "peace" at its root because a pact often ends a period of unfriendly relations. The word is generally used in the field of international relations, where diplomats may speak of an "arms pact", a "trade pact", or a "fishing-rights pact". But it may also be used for any solemn agreement or promise between two people; after all, whenever two parties shake hands on a deal, they're not about to go to war with each other.
Examples of pact in a Sentence
Jay Paris, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
Now the Abraham Accords—the U.S.-brokered normalization pacts between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan—might expand to include the most powerful Sunni Arab state, Saudi Arabia.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
But the pact, announced July 23, may only be the beginning for U.S. colleges, according to the administration.
—Ramon Padilla, USA Today, 27 July 2025
Both sides had finalized the trade pact in May after three years of intense negotiations — marked by thorny issues such as visas, tariff reduction and tax breaks.
—Anniek Bao, CNBC, 25 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pact.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pact. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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pact
nounMiddle English pact "agreement," from early French pact (same meaning), from Latin pactum (same meaning), derived from pacisci "to agree, contract"
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