deliberation
Americannoun
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careful consideration before decision.
- Synonyms:
- forethought, reflection
-
formal consultation or discussion.
-
deliberate quality; leisureliness of movement or action; slowness.
noun
-
thoughtful, careful, or lengthy consideration
-
(often plural) formal discussion and debate, as of a committee, jury, etc
-
care, thoughtfulness, or absence of hurry, esp in movement or speech
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of deliberation
1325–75; Middle English deliberacion < Latin dēlīberātiōn- (stem of dēlīberātiō ), equivalent to dēlīberāt ( us ) ( see deliberate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
The process of carefully considering what to do is called deliberation, like your deliberation before making one of the most important decisions in your life. The noun deliberation comes from the Latin word deliberare, meaning “weigh,” or “consider well.” Whenever a person or group needs to work through all of the possible solutions to a problem, this is deliberation. Something that is deliberate is done on purpose, not by chance or accident — deliberation carries this same spirit, in that it is a carefully thought-out process of making a decision.
Vocabulary lists containing deliberation
Hamilton
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"The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton
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The Federalist Papers, No. 1 by Alexander Hamilton
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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:
Jurors reached their verdicts after about six and a half hours of deliberation.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The State Department declined to say whether Lex Libertas will be among those invited to compete, saying the grant is still under deliberation.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
"This has implications for critical real-world scenarios, like when a radiologist can accurately classify masses on an X-ray as benign or malignant fairly automatically, often without extensive deliberation, thanks to years of training," Cox said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
AI development is outpacing ethical deliberation, and people are already being harmed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The crowd started rustling around us, and Shawn announced that anybody who wanted to stay for the final deliberation could wait inside the library.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
Kagan said there have been more leaks over time, which has frustrated all the justices and had an impact on their deliberations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The professor declined to reveal details of the committee’s deliberations that led it to cancel its plans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
He also acknowledged that the jury was "exhausted" after deliberating from early Thursday morning, adding that "it would be totally wrong" to expect them to continue deliberations in the hours ahead.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
Defining the shortfall was the first step taken by the so-called Greenspan Commission when it began its deliberations to restore balance to Social Security in 1982.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
Perhaps the most graphic illustration of the singular status that Washington enjoyed was the decision of the Constitutional Convention to deposit the minutes of its secret deliberations with him for safekeeping.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
