deliberated

verb

past tense of deliberate
as in pondered
to give serious and careful thought to the jury deliberated the case for three days before returning a verdict

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of deliberated Yolo Superior Court jurors deliberated for weeks at Dominguez’s initial 2025 trial in the stabbings that paralyzed Davis before acquitting him on one murder count and failing to reach a verdict on a second murder count. — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 14 July 2026 The jury deliberated for about six hours on Monday and eight hours on Tuesday before the mistrial was declared. — Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 July 2026 Difficulty reaching a unanimous verdict The jurors deliberated for nearly three days before arriving at their decision. — Mike Hellgren, CBS News, 30 June 2026 The jury deliberated for more than an hour. — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 23 June 2026 The seven-person jury deliberated for about eight hours over two days before finding Banken and several of his companies civilly liable for violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act. — Andy Mannix, ProPublica, 23 June 2026 Jurors deliberated for three days before reaching the partial verdict. — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 12 June 2026 The new indictments come as legal teams for both Jones and Dowling are in the process of seeking acquittals from Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross after evidence presented at a six-week trial in Akron failed in March to lead to unanimity among jurors, who deliberated for nine days. — ABC News, 4 June 2026 The jury deliberated for less than six hours over the course of two days, from March 25 to March 26, 2025, in Rice's case. — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 4 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deliberated
  1. pondered
  2. debated
  3. contemplated
  4. considered
  5. entertained
  6. studied
  7. questioned
  8. weighed
Verb
  • McElwee has often pondered the downside of essentially treating himself like a human camera, observing the world rather than fully engaging in it.
    — Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2026
  • Not bad considering national media hasn’t pondered them all season besides suggesting another player be traded away.
    — Dan Hayes, New York Times, 15 July 2026
Definition of pondered
Verb
  • The project has been debated by county commissioners for years.
    — Reed Williams, AJC.com, 21 July 2026
  • Whether and how to use America’s military support as leverage to restrain the Israeli operation was debated for months inside the White House.
    — David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 20 July 2026
Definition of debated
Verb
  • This ambitious strategy, known as marine cloud brightening (MCB), has been one of several geoengineering strategies contemplated as a way to counteract global warming.
    — Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 8 July 2026
  • The story includes messages referring to the incident sent by Racicot two years later, before Platner contemplated running for office.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 6 July 2026
Definition of contemplated
Verb
  • Students should create profiles with headhunting firms to be considered for opportunities in both design and corporate verticals.
    — Cami Fateh, Vogue, 15 July 2026
  • Tarrant County’s health inspections function on a 100-point scale, where a score of 100 is considered perfect and a score of 70 is considered extremely poor.
    — Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 July 2026
Definition of considered
Verb
  • These clips will keep kids entertained and maybe even teach them something.
    — Anna Halkidis, Parents, 17 July 2026
  • Big crowds of visitors were entertained at events all around town during the World Cup.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 15 July 2026
Definition of entertained
Verb
  • Nationally, 61% of the 160 metro areas Pew studied were classified as somewhat or very unaffordable for young buyers in 2024 — up from just 41% in 2019.
    — Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 16 July 2026
  • The university’s shark lab, which has studied shark behavior and ecology for 60 years, will probably survive.
    — Kori McNair, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2026
Definition of studied
Verb
  • The man questioned by police earlier allegedly appeared to throw 10 punches at the man on the ground and three knee strikes or kicks, according to the arrest reports.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 18 July 2026
  • His parents, however, have questioned that as out of character and potentially the sign that foul play was covered up.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 18 July 2026
Definition of questioned
Verb
  • Look for judges’ orders and jury verdicts, which can be useful to see how a court weighed claims.
    — Mollie Simon, ProPublica, 16 July 2026
  • Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Treasury yields fell on Wednesday as traders weighed another tamer-than-expected inflation report.
    — Sean Conlon,Hugh Leask, CNBC, 15 July 2026
Definition of weighed

Browse Nearby Words

deliberate
deliberated
deliberately
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Deliberated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deliberated. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on deliberated

Nglish: Translation of deliberated for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of dog days

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
thumbnail graphic with text word of the day quiz
Weekly "Word of the Day" Quiz See how well you know each Word of the Day for Ju...
See All