bilateral
adjective
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Since the prefix bi- means "two" in Latin, bilateral means essentially "two-sided". In the days when there were two superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union regularly engaged in bilateral arms negotiations; such negotiations are much less common today. Sometimes bilateral refers to two sides of the same thing. A bilateral hip replacement, for instance, replaces both hip bones in the same operation. And bilateral symmetry (a term often used by biologists) refers to the fact that, in many organisms (such as humans), the left side is basically the mirror image of the right side.
Examples of bilateral in a Sentence
Brad Lendon, CNN, 30 June 2024
President Joe Biden has remained committed to supporting Ukraine and its effort to join NATO, signing a 10-year bilateral security agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on June 13.
—Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY, 28 June 2024
First, the number of both bilateral and multilateral trade agreements have skyrocketed.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 28 June 2024
Alessandro Della Valle/Keystone via AP Vice President Kamala Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke warmly about the recent Ukrainian-American security agreement before a bilateral meeting at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine on Saturday in Switzerland.
—Michelle Stoddart, ABC News, 15 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for bilateral 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bilateral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Bilateral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bilateral. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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