Standard Lemma guide

pact

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pækt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ækt
  • homophone: packed
  • CMU ARPABET: P AE1 K T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An agreement; a compact; a covenant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • write up a pact
  • New sisters at the sorority have to agree to the pact set out by the former members.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An agreement between two or more nations

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: international law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An alliance or coalition.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To form a pact; to agree formally.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a written agreement between two states or sovereigns

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: treaty, accord

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: written agreement

Narrower terms: alliance, commercial treaty, peace, peace treaty, pacification, convention, North Atlantic Treaty, SALT I, SALT II

History

Etymology

From Middle English pact, from Middle French pacte, from Old French, and its etymon Latin pactum (“something agreed upon”), from pacīscī (“to agree”). Probably a doublet of patio.

Across languages

Translations

112 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Arabic: مُعَاهَدَة (muʕāhada) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Arabic: مِيثَاق (mīṯāq) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Arabic: حِلْف (ḥilf) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Arabic: مُقَاوَلَة (muqāwala) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Armenian: պայմանագիր (paymanagir) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Azerbaijani: müqavilə — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Belarusian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Bulgarian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Catalan: pacte — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 協議 /协议 (xiéyì) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 協定 /协定 (xiédìng) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 條約 /条约 (tiáoyuē) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 契約 /契约 (qìyuē) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Czech: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Danish: pagt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Dutch: pact — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Estonian: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Finnish: sopimus — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • French: pacte — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Galician: pauto — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Georgian: პაქტი (ṗakṭi) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • German: Pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • German: Vertrag — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Greek: συμφωνία (symfonía) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Greek: σύμφωνο (sýmfono) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Hindi: सन्धि (sandhi) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Hungarian: megállapodás — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Hungarian: egyezmény — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Italian: patto — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Japanese: 協定 (kyōtei) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Japanese: 条約 (jōyaku) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Kazakh: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Kazakh: келісім (kelısım) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Khmer: កតិកាសញ្ញា (kaʼtekaa saññaa) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Khmer: អនុសញ្ញា (ʼaʼnusaññaa) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Khmer: សន្ធិសញ្ញា (sɑnthisaññaa) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Korean: 협정 (hyeopjeong) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Korean: 조약 (joyak) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Korean: 계약 (gyeyak) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Kyrgyz: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Lao: ສົນທິສັນຍາ (son thi san nyā) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Lao: ອະນຸສັນຍາ (ʼa nu san nyā) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Latin: pactiō — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Latin: pactum — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Latvian: pakts — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Lithuanian: paktas — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Macedonian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Malay: pakatan — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Norwegian Bokmål: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Odia: ଚୁକ୍ତି (cukti) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Iranian Persian: پِیْمان (peymân) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Iranian Persian: مُعاهَدِه (mo'âhade) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Iranian Persian: مُقاوَلِه (moġâvale) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Polish: układ — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Polish: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Portuguese: pacto — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Romanian: pact — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Romanian: пакт (pact) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Russian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Russian: догово́р (dogovór) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Russian: соглаше́ние (soglašénije) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Serbo-Croatian: па̏кт — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Serbo-Croatian: pȁkt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Slovak: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Slovene: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Slovene: dogovor — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Spanish: pacto — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Swahili: agano — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Swedish: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Tajik: паймон (paymon) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Tajik: муоҳида (muohida) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Tajik: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Tajik: аҳднома (ahdnoma) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Tajik: шартнома (šartnoma) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Tamil: உடன்படிக்கை (uṭaṉpaṭikkai) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Thai: ข้อตกลง (kɔ̂ɔ-dtòk-long) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Thai: อนุสัญญา (à-nú-sǎn-yaa) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Thai: สนธิสัญญา (sǒn-tí-sǎn-yaa) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Turkish: antlaşma — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Turkish: mukavele — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Ukrainian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Urdu: مُعاہَدَہ (mu'āhada) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Urdu: پَیمان (paimān) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Urdu: عَہْد نامَہ ('ahd nāma) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Uyghur: شەرتنامە (shertname) — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Uzbek: pakt — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Uzbek: shartnoma — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Vietnamese: điều ước — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Vietnamese: hiệp ước — an agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 公約 /公约 (gōngyuē) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 條約 /条约 (tiáoyuē) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Czech: pakt — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Finnish: sopimus — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Polish: pakt — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Polish: układ — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Russian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Russian: догово́р (dogovór) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Russian: соглаше́ние (soglašénije) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Tamil: உடன்படிக்கை (uṭaṉpaṭikkai) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Thai: กติกาสัญญา (gà-dtì-gaa-sǎn-yaa) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Turkish: antant — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Turkish: pakt — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Ukrainian: пакт (pakt) — an agreement between two or more nations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 同盟 (tóngméng) — (military) an alliance or coalition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 聯盟 /联盟 (liánméng) — (military) an alliance or coalition
  • Finnish: liittouma — (military) an alliance or coalition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 達成協議 /达成协议 (dáchéng xiéyì) — agree formally
  • Finnish: sopia — agree formally
  • Spanish: pactar — agree formally
  • Spanish: paccionar — agree formally