delivery

American  

[dih-liv-uh-ree] / dɪˈlɪv ə ri /

noun

• deliveries
  plural

1. the carrying and turning over of letters, goods, etc., to a designated recipient or recipients.

2. a giving up or handing over; surrender.

3. the utterance or enunciation of words.

4. vocal and bodily behavior during the presentation of a speech.

   a speaker's fine delivery.

5. the act or manner of giving or sending forth.

   the pitcher's fine delivery of the ball.

6. the state of being delivered of or giving birth to a child; parturition.

7. something delivered.

   The delivery is late today.

8. Commerce. a shipment of goods from the seller to the buyer.

9. Law. a formal act performed to make a transfer of property legally effective.

   a delivery of deed.

10. Also called delivery end.  Printing. the part of a printing press where the paper emerges in printed form.

11. Archaic. release or rescue; liberation; deliverance.

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delivery British  

/ dɪˈlɪvərɪ /

noun

1. 1. the act of delivering or distributing goods, mail, etc

   2. something that is delivered

   3. ( as modifier )

      a delivery service

2. the act of giving birth to a child

   she had an easy delivery

3. manner or style of utterance, esp in public speaking or recitation

   the chairman had a clear delivery

4. the act of giving or transferring or the state of being given or transferred

5. the act of rescuing or state of being rescued; liberation

6. sport

   1. the act or manner of bowling or throwing a ball

   2. the ball so delivered

      a fast delivery

7. an actual or symbolic handing over of property, a deed, etc

8. the discharge rate of a compressor or pump

9. (in South Africa) the supply of basic services to communities deprived under apartheid

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misdelivery
  noun
• nondelivery
  noun
• predelivery
  noun
• redelivery
  noun
• postdelivery
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• deliveries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of delivery

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English delyvere, delyvery, from Anglo-French delivrée, noun use of feminine past participle of delivrer “to deliver,” with suffix assimilated to -ery; see deliver

Explanation

When you make a delivery, you bring something somewhere. A delivery can be in the form of something physical, as when you receive a delivery in the mail, or verbal, as in the delivery of a speech or address. Delivery once could only mean "the action of handing something to another," but it has a long history of being applied in other ways. The idea of childbirth as being a delivery came about in the 1570's, while the term was applied to a punch in the 1580's, and to throwing a ball in 1702. A verbal delivery is the manner in which a speech is presented. As a comedian, you know the importance of a good delivery — timing the punchline just right.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

delivery deliveries

But with prices now climbing above £1 a litre, he said the difference compared with last year was stark."Last year we paid 55p a litre for delivery at the same time of year," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Anthropic said the operation also ghost-wrote official testimonies intended for delivery at the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, drafting them under "specific restrictions" that neither speech mention the UAE.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

There were no election-related training materials posted at 22 of 73 delivery units, or about 30%.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 684,000 barrels at 21.8 million barrels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

I'd coached my students through half a dozen episodes, giving them background information and explaining that missing children do not just march through the door ten minutes after the critical delivery flashback.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

But if you do binge the series first, watching it will be like “getting 24 consecutive deliveries of perfectly baked Parisian pastry.”

From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2026

The first deliveries landed: Seafood was up 7%, fresh fruit was up 4.9% — everything that rides a refrigerated truck was up, because the cold chain burns the most diesel per mile.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

Experts have warned that long-term restrictions on canal crossings could lead to higher shipping costs and longer waiting times for deliveries.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Companies are dealing not only with a lack of demand but also with shipping bottlenecks that have delayed deliveries of everything from heavy machinery to kegs of imported beer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

The next Saturday, after a week of being my brother in everyone’s class except Mr. Ferris’s, I found Lil waiting by the Large-Billed Puffins when I came back from the deliveries.

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• consignment
• distribution
• shipment
• transmission