Ne*go`ti*a"tion (?), n. [L.
negotiatio: cf. F. négociation.]
1. The act or process of negotiating; a treating
with another respecting sale or purchase. etc.
2. Hence, mercantile business; trading.
[Obs.]
Who had lost, with these prizes, forty thousand
pounds, after twenty years' negotiation in the East
Indies.
Evelyn.
3. The transaction of business between
nations; the mutual intercourse of governments by diplomatic agents,
in making treaties, composing difference, etc.; as, the
negotiations at Ghent.
An important negotiation with foreign
powers.
Macaulay.