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.
We supported a peace pact between the two countries. They made a pact to go to the gym together three times a week.
Recent Examples on the WebUnder the pact — which next goes to a vote among members of the nation’s two largest freight unions — employees will for the first time be able to take unpaid time off work for routine preventive medical care, union leaders said in a statement. Leticia Miranda, NBC News, 15 Sep. 2022 Cox’s time as Daredevil was cut short when Netflix, which had a pact with Disney to produced Marvel projects, canceled Daredevil in 2018 as Disney prepared to launch its own competitor streaming service, Disney+. Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 July 2022 Tesla also has a pact with operators of a nickel mine in the South Pacific island of New Caledonia. David Stringer, Bloomberg.com, 30 Mar. 2022 Countries in the alliance have a mutual-defense pact, meaning that if one nation is attacked, the others will join in the response.Washington Post, 19 Aug. 2021 The Solomons in the spring signed a security pact with Beijing. The Editorial Board, WSJ, 30 Aug. 2022 China signed a bilateral security pact with the Solomon Islands in the Spring, part of Beijing's increasing activity in the South Pacific. Teny Sahakian, Fox News, 26 Aug. 2022 Under the multiyear pact, BetMGM will have category exclusivity in BetQL Network’s weekly lineup of about 100 hours of original content per week. Todd Spangler, Variety, 25 Aug. 2022 Under the pact, Warner Bros. International’s distribution division will handle all Warners movies, beginning with the release of Bones and All in November of 2022 and Creed III, which is set for 2023. Pamela Mcclintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin pactum, from neuter of pactus, past participle of pacisci to agree, contract; akin to Old English fōn to seize, Latin pax peace, pangere to fix, fasten, Greek pēgnynai
ADJECTIVE | VERB + PACT | PREPOSITION | PHRASESADJECTIVE➤bilateral, mutual雙邊/相互間的協議➤defence/defense, security防禦條約;安全協議➤non-aggression, peace互不侵犯條約;和平公約➤stability穩定公約➤electoral, free-trade, social, trade選舉協議;自由貿易協定;社會公約;貿易協定➤suicide自殺協議VERB + PACT➤have有協定▸➤conclude, enter into, form, make締結盟約;達成協定◇The Liberals formed a secret pact with the Independents.自由黨與無黨派人士達成了一項秘密協議。➤sign簽署條約◇The Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany.蘇聯與德國簽署了互不侵犯條約。➤negotiate談判協議➤break違反協定PREPOSITION➤in a/the pact在協定中◇She died with her lover in a suicide pact.她與情人約定一起自殺了。➤under a/the pact根據協定◇conditions under the recently signed non-aggression pact最近簽署的互不侵犯條約中的條款➤pact between⋯之間的盟約◇a security pact between Pakistan and France巴基斯坦和法國訂立的安全條約➤pact with和⋯的協定◇She made a pact with her friend never to tell anyone what had happened.她與朋友訂立盟約,絕不告訴任何人發生了什麼事情。PHRASES➤a pact with the devil (usually a deal with the devil in NAmE)與魔鬼的契約◇He accused them of making a pact with the devil by allowing soldiers to be stationed in the region.他指責他們,讓士兵駐紮在該地區是與魔鬼做交易。