deliberate
Americanadjective
-
carefully weighed or considered; studied; intentional.
a deliberate lie.
- Antonyms:
- accidental
-
characterized by deliberation or cautious consideration; careful or slow in deciding.
Moving away from the city and all its advantages required a deliberate decision.
- Synonyms:
- cautious, circumspect, thoughtful, methodical
- Antonyms:
- rash, precipitate, impulsive
-
leisurely and steady in movement or action; slow and even; unhurried.
moving with a deliberate step.
verb (used with object)
-
deliberates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deliberated,
past participle, past
-
deliberating
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
deliberates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deliberated,
past participle, past
-
deliberating
present participle
adjective
-
carefully thought out in advance; planned; studied; intentional
a deliberate insult
-
careful or unhurried in speech or action
a deliberate pace
verb
Synonym Usage
Deliberate, intentional, premeditated, voluntary refer to something not happening by chance. Deliberate is applied to what is done not hastily but with full realization of what one is doing: a deliberate attempt to evade justice. Intentional is applied to what is definitely intended or done on purpose: an intentional omission. Premeditated is applied to what has been planned in advance: a premeditated crime. Voluntary is applied to what is done by a definite exercise of the will and not because of outward pressures: a voluntary enlistment. See slow.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
deliberatenessnoun
-
deliberatornoun
-
nondeliberatenessnoun
-
overdeliberatenessnoun
-
undeliberatenessnoun
-
overdeliberateverb
-
redeliberateverb
-
predeliberateverb (used with object)
-
nondeliberateadjective
-
overdeliberateadjective
-
predeliberateadjective
-
quasi-deliberateadjective
-
undeliberateadjective
-
undeliberatingadjective
-
well-deliberatedadjective
-
deliberatelyadverb
-
undeliberatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
deliberatesimple
-
deliberatessimple
-
have deliberatedperfect
-
has deliberatedperfect
-
am deliberatingprogressive
-
are deliberatingprogressive
-
is deliberatingprogressive
-
have been deliberatingperfect progressive
-
has been deliberatingperfect progressive
Past
-
deliberatedsimple
-
had deliberatedperfect
-
was deliberatingprogressive
-
were deliberatingprogressive
-
had been deliberatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deliberate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin dēlīberātus (past participle of dēlīberāre “to consider”), equivalent to dē- “from, away from” + līber(āre) “to balance, weigh” (derivative of lībra “balance, scales”) + -ātus past participle suffix; see de-, -ate 1
Explanation
To deliberate means to carefully think or talk something through — it also means slow and measured, the pace of this kind of careful decision making. If you chose deliberately, you make a very conscious, well-thought-through choice. The verb deliberate ends with an "ate" sound — at the end of a trial, after the evidence is presented, the twelve members of a jury retreat to a room to deliberate, i.e., talk through the trial and come to a verdict. The adjective deliberate ends with an "it" sound. If you walk with a deliberate pace, you're slow and steady.
Vocabulary lists containing deliberate
The Crucible
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"Of Mice and Men"
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Think Tank: Thought-Provoking Vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Over that period, the laboratory received 274 samples connected to 201 suspected cases of either deliberate or accidental poisoning across the UK, Ireland, and Gibraltar.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
“There was a deliberate digital campaign, spreading via WhatsApp and Facebook groups, that coordinated meeting points and crossing instructions,” said Ruslan Trad, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
“It’s very deliberate to call this a restoration and not a renovation,” Reyes said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
In the 1970s, the US space agency carried out deliberate crashes during its Apollo program to collect seismic data.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
The train began to slow down as it approached the station, and Moss sat down in the seat nearest the door, taking slow, deliberate breaths.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
And so, I think there has to be both a change to the way the Senate deliberates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
The Fed is considering this scenario as it deliberates the future of monetary policy.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
"Judges routinely give a 'clean up' instruction before a jury deliberates, telling them not to construe anything the court says as evidence, or as a suggestion of what their verdict should be," she tweeted.
From Salon ● May 1, 2023
It meets and deliberates in person —not via Zoom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
But it does not lead to a necessary conclusion, except as to that intellect which deliberates in order to find out what should be done, which is like movement.
From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Aquinas Thomas
Juries deliberated and judges delivered sentences, some of which were commuted by the state’s governors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The jury in 77-year-old George Gibney's deliberated for more than seven hours before returning a to give its verdict's on Monday afternoon.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for 10 hours over three days before coming to their verdicts.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
The Chicago jury, which deliberated from around two hours, found that "the total amount of damages suffered by Plaintiff is $49.5 million", according to documents.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
For a split second that seemed much longer than it really was, Carlisle deliberated.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
Now, was Warsh deliberating targeting the long end of the curve with the statement and ensuing press conference?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
PdVSA recently circulated among industry participants a list of two dozen production-sharing agreements it was deliberating with foreign oil companies, according to a person close to the situation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Jurors first indicated that they were at an impasse on Thursday afternoon, after deliberating for more than 13 hours.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Last week, a second jury was discharged after deliberating for nearly 20 hours following a five-week trial.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
After deliberating for three days, the nine-member jury finds Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold guilty.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
