Deliberate

How to spell deliberate

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce deliberate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deliberate mean?

1. adjectiveDone consciously and on purpose; intentional rather than accidental.
2. verbTo think about or discuss something carefully before reaching a decision.

Deliberate in a sentence

• adjective

  The accountant insisted the error was a simple mistake, not a deliberate act of fraud.

• verb

  The jury will deliberate for several hours before returning a verdict.

• adjective

  Her slow, deliberate movements showed she was being careful with the fragile vase.

• verb

  The board needs time to deliberate over the proposed budget cuts.

Where does deliberate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb deliberare, meaning 'to weigh carefully' or 'to consider thoroughly'. It was formed from the intensive prefix de- and a verb related to librare, 'to balance or weigh', which in turn comes from libra, the Latin word for a pair of scales (the very same libra that names the zodiac sign and once named a Roman unit of weight). The underlying image, then, is of a person weighing options on a balance before deciding, which is exactly what happens when a jury or a committee deliberates. English adopted the term in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, first as a verb for careful consideration and then as an adjective describing an action that was carefully weighed in advance, hence 'intentional'. The spelling trap lives in the middle: that unstressed -lib- followed by -er- tempts writers toward 'delibarate' or a doubled letter, but remembering libra, the scales, anchors the 'liber' spelling.

How the word is built

• de- (fully, thoroughly)
• liber (from Latin librare: to weigh, balance, from libra: scales)
• -ate (verb/adjective suffix)