Definition

Adjective: Involving or consisting of two distinct political parties, groups, or sides. It describes a system, agreement, or activity that requires or features the participation of two primary parties.

Usage and Examples

The adjective "two-party" is used to describe systems, agreements, or negotiations that involve two main groups.

• The country has a two-party political system dominated by the Liberals and the Conservatives.
• The negotiation resulted in a two-party agreement to reduce tariffs.
• This is not a multi-stakeholder issue; it is strictly a two-party dispute between the landlord and the tenant.

Advanced Usage

• Two-party system: A political system where two major political parties dominate voting and hold almost all political power.
  • The stability of the American two-party system is often debated by political scientists.
• Two-party consent: A legal requirement that both involved parties must agree to an action, such as the recording of a conversation.
  • This state has two-party consent laws for audio recording.

Variants and Related Words

• Bipartisan (adj): Involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other.
  • The bill passed with rare bipartisan support.
• Bilateral (adj): Involving two parties, especially countries.
  • They signed a bilateral trade agreement.

Synonyms

• Bipartite
• Dual-party
• Two-sided

Antonyms

• Multi-party
• Unilateral
• One-party

Related Phrases

• Two-party preferred vote: In some electoral systems, a count of votes that distributes preferences until only two candidates remain.
  • The candidate won 52% of the two-party preferred vote.

Adjective

1. supported by both sides
   • a two-way treaty