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ratify

UK/ˈɹætɪfaɪ/US/ˈɹætɪfaɪ/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,752 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: ratified, ratifying, ratifies

To ratify is to make an agreement official by formally approving it. Ratify a treaty, ratified by parliament, ratify the deal.

Signing and ratifying are different steps: a state signs to show intent and ratifies to be bound, and treaties can wait decades between the two. Ratification is the noun. Note that the Latin ratus means reckoned or fixed, which is also behind ratio and rate.

Definitions of ratify

  1. 1verbratifyTo make an agreement official by formally approving it.C1

    “The treaty will not come into force until every member country has ratified it.”

ratify is a formal approval.

Also accepted in games: approve

Where it comes from

Latin ratificare comes from ratus, reckoned or settled, plus facere, to make. Ratio and rate share the root.

  1. Medieval Latin

    ratifico

  2. Old French

    ratifier

  3. Middle English

    ratifien

  4. English, today

    ratify

From Middle English ratifien, from Old French ratifier, from Medieval Latin ratifico. From Middle English ratifien, from Old French ratifier, from Medieval Latin ratifico, from Latin ratus (“reckoned”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Verbs

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ratify in the wild

  • The treaty, however, never came into force because Japan failed to ratify it.

    Treaty of Paris (1920)

  • The union was recognized by the United Kingdom, France and Italy, but Japan did not ratify it, and the Soviet Union never recognized this Union.

    Treaty of Paris (1920)

  • Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, doing so on December 7, 1787.

    Article Seven of the United States Constitution

  • On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, thereby placing the Constitution into effect.

    Article Seven of the United States Constitution

  • In recent years, lawmakers in a handful of states have introduced resolutions to ratify the amendment.

    Child Labor Amendment

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.