delta

/ˈdɛltə/

delta noun: the fourth letter of the modern Greek alphabet Δ, δ. Also the alternative letter-case form of Delta from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.

Image: Mrmw, Vladsinger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

delta (plural deltas)

The fourth letter of the modern Greek alphabet Δ, δ.
A landform at the mouth of a river where it empties into a body of water.
- Nile Delta
The symbol Δ; A change in a quantity, likely from "d" for "difference".
- ΔV - "delta vee"(change in velocity, used in rocketry and orbital mechanics)
The rate of change in an option value with respect to the underlying asset's price.
A value in delta notation indicating the relative abundances of isotopes.
The set of differences between two versions of a file.
- When you update the file, the system will only save the deltas.
(informal) A small but noticeable effect. Compare epsilon.
- This will slow the main code path down, but only by delta.
The angle subtended at the center of a circular arc.
A type of cargo bike that has one wheel in front and two in back.
(attributive, often) The closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, especially in a three-phase system.
- delta winding; delta connection; delta current
(Space-Force, US) A military unit, nominally headed by a colonel, equivalent to a USAF operations wing, or an army regiment.

Synonyms:

garrison
a star that is usually the fourth brightest of a constellation.
one of four baryons consisting of up and down quarks with a combined spin of 3/2: Δ⁺⁺ (uuu), Δ⁺ (uud), Δ⁰ (udd), or Δ⁻ (ddd)

Verb

delta (third-person singular simple present deltas, present participle deltaing, simple past and past participle deltaed)

To calculate the differences between the characters in an enciphered text and the characters a fixed number of positions previous.
- Turingery worked on deltaed key to produce the deltaed contribution of the chi-wheels. Turing's discovery that delta-ing would reveal information otherwise hidden was essential to the developments that followed.2007, B. J. Copeland, “Tunny and Colossus: Breaking the Lorenz Schlüsselzusatz traffic”, in Karl de Leeuw, Jan Bergstra, editors, The History of Information Security: A Comprehensive Handbook...
To compare two versions of the same file in order to determine where they differ (where a programmer has made edits).
- The primary function of this command is to delta the product version file (if it has been retrieved for edit). However, prior to deltaing the product version file, the work source tree is searched to verify that no other source files are still waiting to be deltaed.1992, Israel Silverberg, Source File Management With SCCS, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 166

Proper noun capitalized: Delta

Delta

A state of Nigeria in the South South geopolitical zone. Capital: Asaba. Largest city: Warri.
A municipality in Central Macedonia, Greece.
A municipality of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
A municipality of British Columbia, Canada.
- The xʷəxʷilməxʷ (Indigenous Peoples) recognized how the meeting of the təməxʷ (land), stal̓əw̓ (river), and k̓ʷaƛ̓k̓ʷa (sea) could provide an abundance of access to seasonal resources, as well as provide a more permanent residence for the scəw̓aθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen Peoples). The features of...2021 August 8, “Delta, TFN unveil new interpretive sign”, in Delta Optimist
A village in Ontario, Canada.
A census-designated place and unincorporated community in Clay County, Alabama.
A city and home rule municipality, the county seat of Delta County, Colorado.
An unincorporated community in Saline County, Illinois.
A city in Keokuk County, Iowa.
An unincorporated community in Wayne County, Kentucky.
A village in Madison Parish, Louisiana.
A city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.

Show 5 more meaningsShow fewer meanings

An unincorporated community in Stokes County, North Carolina.
A village in Fulton County, Ohio.
A borough in York County, Pennsylvania.
A city in Millard County, Utah.
A town and unincorporated community in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.

Noun (2) capitalized: Delta

Delta

The Delta variant of COVID-19.
- Delta is moderately resistant to vaccines, particularly in people who have received just a single dose.2021 June 22, “Delta coronavirus variant: scientists brace for impact”, in Nature

Noun (3) capitalized: DELTA

DELTA (plural DELTAs)

(abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, an advanced qualification to teach English, higher than the CELTA, accredited by the University of Cambridge.

Also used as

delta is also the alternative letter-case form of Delta from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.

delta is also the ellipsis of delta variant.

delta meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

delta in Hindi

fourth letter of modern Greek alphabet: डेल्टा ḍelṭā
landform at the mouth of a river: मुखत्रिकोण mukhatrikoṇ, त्रिभुज tribhuj, तिकोन tikon
mathematical symbol Δ: डेल्टा ḍelṭā

delta in Marathi

fourth letter of modern Greek alphabet: डेल्टा ḍelṭā
mathematical symbol Δ: डेल्टा ḍelṭā

delta in Bengali

ব-দ্বীপ, বদ্বীপ, ডেল্টা

More languagesFewer languages

delta in Malayalam: ഡെൽറ്റ, ഡെൽറ്റാ
delta in Kannada: ಡೆಲ್ಟಾ, ಡೆಲ್ಟ, ಡೆಲ್ಟಾವನ್ನು
delta in Gujarati: મુખત્રિકોણ mukhatrikoṇ
delta in Odia: ଡେଲ୍ଟା, ଡେଲଟା
delta in Nepali: डेल्टा, डेल्टामा, डेल्टाको
delta in Tagalog: delta, sabangan
delta in Arabic: دِلْتَا diltā
delta in Malay: delta
delta in Indonesian: kuala
delta in Persian: دلتا dêlta
delta in Thai: เดลตา deel-dtâa, ดินดอนสามเหลี่ยม din-dɔɔn-sǎam-lìiam, สามเหลี่ยมปากแม่น้ำ sǎam-lìiam-bpàak-mɛ̂ɛ-náam, ดินดอนสามเหลี่ยมปากแม่น้ำ din-dɔɔn-sǎam-lìiam-bpàak-mɛ̂ɛ-náam
delta in Vietnamese: châu thổ
Sindhi: ٽِڪور ṭikor

Examples of delta in a sentence

The river reached its terminus at the wide delta near the sea.
Background EEG demonstrates an admixture of theta and delta waves.
The Nile delta is a populous region.

All 40 example sentences with delta

Synonyms of delta

garrison

Forms of delta

Noun
plural	deltas
plural	DELTAs
Verb
third-person singular present	deltas
present participle	deltaing
past participle	deltaed
past	deltaed

Plural of delta: deltas

Origin of delta

From Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), borrowed from a Phoenician word for "door", ultimately from Proto-Semitic *dalt-. Doublet of dalet. * (river): from the triangular shape of the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ * (USSF): from the delta wing, symbol of the USSF, a triangular wing, shaped like the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ

Words formed from delta

Phrases with delta

9 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with delta

CELTA

Questions about delta

What does delta mean?: Delta means the fourth letter of the modern Greek alphabet Δ, δ.
What is delta in Hindi?: Delta in Hindi is डेल्टा (ḍelṭā), मुखत्रिकोण (mukhatrikoṇ), त्रिभुज (tribhuj). See Delta meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is delta?: Delta can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce delta?: Delta is pronounced /ˈdɛltə/.
What is the plural of delta?: The plural of delta is deltas.

Words near delta in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: delta (page history and authors); Delta (page history and authors); DELTA (page history and authors); delta (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); delta (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); delta (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); delta (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); delta (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); delta (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-delta.ogg.

Cite this entry: “delta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/delta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.