MEANING
Agreement among every member of a group, with no dissenting position.
Use it for
distinguishing complete agreement from majority support; qualifying claims of consensus; describing a decision with no dissent; showing that agreement on an outcome may not extend to its reasonsDistinguishes agreement by every member from majority support or a broad but imperfect consensus. Writing functions: Argumentation, Qualification / Uncertainty, Comparison / Contrast.
Words that belong together
- unanimity on a question
- achieve unanimity
- apparent unanimity
On the page
There was unanimity on the need for reform but not on how it should be funded.
The minutes record unanimity, although they reveal little about the discussion beforehand.
Word forms
- Base
- unanimity
Usage notes
Normally an uncountable noun. Use unanimity, not a routine plural, when referring to complete agreement within a group. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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