deliberate
Syllables: de·lib·er·ateUK/dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət//dɪˈlɪb.ɚ.ət/
deliberate adjective: done on purpose; intentional.
Adjective
deliberate (comparative more deliberate, superlative most deliberate)
- Done on purpose; intentional.
- a deliberate attempt to cover up his crime
- The massacre of up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 was an act of genocide in a deliberate attempt by the Bosnian Serb leadership to exterminate part of the Muslim community, appeal judges ruled in a crucial case at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague yesterday.2004 April 20, Ian Traynor, “Hague rules Srebrenica was act of genocide”, in The Guardian
- Synonyms:
- purposeful, volitional, advertent, conscious, witting, intentional, on purpose, purposive, volitational, voluntary
- Antonyms:
- unintentional, unwitting
- Formed with deliberation; carefully considered; not sudden or rash.
- a deliberate opinion; a deliberate measure or result
- settled visage and deliberate word1603-4, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
- Synonyms:
- careful, cautious, well-advised, alert, attentive, cautelous, canny, chary, circumspect, conservative
- Of a person, weighing facts and arguments with a view to a choice or decision; carefully considering the probable consequences of a step; slow in determining.
- The jury took eight hours to come to its deliberate verdict.
- Synonyms:
- circumspect, thoughtful
- Not hasty or sudden; slow.
- His enunciation was so deliberate.1803, William Wirt, The Letters of the British Spy
Verb
deliberate (third-person singular simple present deliberates, present participle deliberating, simple past and past participle deliberated)
deliberate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
deliberate in Hindi
- of a person, carefully considering the probable consequences of a step
- मंथन manthan
- consider carefully
- मंथन करना manthan karnā
deliberate in Tamil
- ஆழ்ந்தாராய், எச்சரிக்கையாய்ச் செய், கலந்தாராய், வேண்டுமென்றே செய், குறித்தெண்ணு, தனிப்பட எண்ணு
deliberate in Urdu
- deliberate, intentional, voluntary
- ارادی erādī
deliberate in Bengali
- ইচ্ছাকৃত, সুচিন্তিত
More languagesFewer languages
- deliberate in Malayalam
- കരുതിക്കൂട്ടിയുളള, ആലോചനാപൂർവ്വമായ
- deliberate in Kannada
- ಯೋಚಿಸು yōcisu, ಉದ್ದೇಶಪೂರ್ವಕ uddēśapūrvaka
- deliberate in Tagalog
- sadya, intensiyonal
- deliberate in Arabic
- اِئْتَمَرَ iʔtamara
- deliberate in Indonesian
- sengaja
Examples of deliberate in a sentence
- In this text, the word "methinks" appears to be a deliberate archaism.
- The supermarket's unmatchably low prices were accompanied by a deliberate decline in quality.
- The deliberate red herring threw me at first.
Synonyms of deliberate
- purposeful
- volitional
- advertent
- conscious
- witting
- intentional
- on purpose
- purposive
- volitational
- voluntary
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of deliberate
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more deliberate |
| superlative | most deliberate |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | deliberates |
| present participle | deliberating |
| past participle | deliberated |
| past | deliberated |
Origin of deliberate
Inherited from Middle English deliberat(e), borrowed from Latin dēlīberātus, perfect passive participle of dēlīberō (“to consider, weigh well”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dē- + *līberō / lībrō (“to weigh”)), from *libera / libra (“a balance”); see librate. Doublet of deliber.
Words formed from deliberate
Questions about deliberate
- What does deliberate mean?
- Deliberate means done on purpose; intentional.
- What is deliberate in Hindi?
- Deliberate in Hindi is मंथन (manthan), मंथन करना (manthan karnā). See Deliberate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is deliberate?
- Deliberate can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce deliberate?
- Deliberate is pronounced /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət/ (UK).
Words near deliberate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deliberate (page history and authors); deliberate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ارادی (Urdu) (page history and authors); Deliberate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deliberate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಉದ್ದೇಶಪೂರ್ವಕ (Kannada) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-deliberate-adj.ogg.
Cite this entry: “deliberate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deliberate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
