agree to disagree

present singular third person agrees to disagree · participle present agreeing to disagree · participle past agreed to disagree · past agreed to disagree

1. idiomaticTo accept each other's opinions and cease arguing; to peacefully acknowledge that an agreement will not be reached.

   I know we’re never going to agree on the merits of vegetarianism, so let’s agree to disagree, shall we?

   3 more examples

   By 1849, they agreed amicably to disagree, and McCormick bought the Ogden and Jones half of the business for $65,000.

   1931, Cyrus Hall McCormick III, The Century of the Reaper, page 29

   We knew that no agreement concerning Taiwan could be reached at this time. While both sides could agree that Taiwan was a part of China — a position supported by both the Peking and Taiwan governments — we would have to oppose the use of military force by Peking to bring Taiwan under Communist rule. Our lengthy discussions resulted as we expected: we could only agree to disagree and to reflect our differences in the communiqué. Thanks largely to Kissinger's negotiating skill and Chou's common sense, the Chinese finally agreed to sufficiently modified language.

   1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 571

   Canada and the United States finally agreed to disagree. Although both countries hold to their separate views of the Northwest Passage, U.S. merchant ships adhere strictly to Canadian regulations there.

   1990 August, John Bockstoce, “Changing Images of the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 23