negotiation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act or process of negotiating.
• noun The transfer of a negotiable instrument.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Trading; mercantile business; trafficking.
• noun Mutual discussion and arrangement of the terms of a transaction or agreement, whether directly or by agents or intermediaries; the act or process of treating with another or others in regard to the settlement of some matter, or for the purchase or sale of a commodity, etc.: as, the negotiation of a treaty or a loan.
• noun In com., the act or procedure by which a bill of exchange, etc., is made negotiable—that is, made capable, by acceptance and indorsement, of being passed from hand to hand in payment of indebtedness, or of being transferred to another for a consideration. See negotiable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act or process of negotiating; a treating with another respecting sale or purchase. etc.
• noun obsolete Hence, mercantile business; trading.
• noun The transaction of business between nations; the mutual intercourse of governments by diplomatic agents, in making treaties, composing difference, etc..

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The process of achieving agreement through discussion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the activity or business of negotiating an agreement; coming to terms
• noun a discussion intended to produce an agreement