delivery

American  

[dih-liv-uh-ree] / dɪˈlɪv ə ri /

noun

plural

deliveries

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

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

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; deliver

Example Sentences

Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were up by 520,000 barrels at 31.5 million barrels.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

Any delivery number close to the consensus figure should be enough to keep Tesla stock stable and let investors go back to thinking about AI.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

The team believes this discovery could influence multiple fields, including cancer research, drug delivery, tissue repair and synthetic biology.

From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026

Sinn Féin assembly member John O'Dowd said it was a "shocking" incident, particularly for the delivery driver.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

Sasha Melnik’s astringent would take longer, Mama said, so Anya took the three ready potions out for delivery while Mama got started on his.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

Related Words

• consignment
• distribution
• shipment
• transmission