Deliver

How to spell deliver

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deliver

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deliver mean?

1. verbTo carry and hand over goods, letters, or messages to a recipient.
2. verbTo provide, achieve, or fulfil something that was promised or expected.
3. verbTo say or perform a speech, lecture, or formal statement aloud.

Deliver in a sentence

• The courier will deliver the parcel before noon.

• The new manager was hired to deliver better results.

• She will deliver the keynote address at the conference.

• Local farms deliver fresh produce to the restaurant each morning.

• The team worked late to deliver the project on time.

• The judge prepared to deliver the verdict to a silent courtroom.

Where does deliver come from?

Language of origin: French

This word travelled into English from the Old French delivrer, which itself grew out of the Late Latin deliberare. The Latin parts are the prefix de-, used here as an intensifier meaning 'away' or 'completely', and liberare, meaning 'to set free' (from liber, 'free'). So the literal idea was to set something or someone free, and that sense survives in phrases like 'deliver us from danger'. From the notion of releasing a captive it broadened to releasing a parcel or message into someone's hands, that is, handing it over, and English adopted it in the 1300s. The same liber root that means 'free' also gives us 'liberty' and 'liberate', which is a handy reminder that the middle of deliver is spelled liv, not lev.

How the word is built

• de- (away, completely)
• liver (from Latin liberare: to set free)