DELIBERATING Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

deliberating

verb

present participle of deliberate

as in pondering

to give serious and careful thought to the jury deliberated the case for three days before returning a verdict

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Recent Examples of deliberating The jury spent a week deliberating in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where supporters and onlookers gathered outside for days awaiting a possible verdict. — James Cirrone, FOXNews.com, 5 Sep. 2026 The judge then reread his instructions on reasonable doubt before sending them back to continue deliberating. — ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026 Reddington once again petitioned the judge to allow the jury to keep deliberating without the one juror who was in the way of a unanimous verdict, asking him to dismiss the juror and let the others continue with an alternate. — Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 4 Sep. 2026 Reddington variously asked the judge either to remove the holdout and replace him with an alternate or to order the jury to continue deliberating. — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2026 Over a month later, a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict after deliberating for weeks and a judge declared a mistrial. — Selena Barrientos, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026 After deliberating further, the jury unanimously reached a not-guilty verdict on that charge, while convicting him of other charges. — Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2026 Jurors began deliberating in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who killed her three young children at their Massachusetts home in 2023. — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2026 After deliberating, the jury returned guilty verdicts against both men. — Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for deliberating

Verb

Kronengold and Shaw are still pondering what will come of that if Adults gets to be renewed.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
The summer before his junior year of high school, he was accepted into the SPARK program and was pondering his next direction.

— Beth Reese Cravey, Florida Times-Union, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of pondering

Verb

Moreno, who in 2003 became baseball’s first Latino owner, was still contemplating a potential exit strategy, according to new club president Molly Jolly.

— Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 2 Sep. 2026
In 2023, the Miami Herald reported that Díaz-Canel told a room of Cuban American businesspeople that the Cuban government was contemplating letting Cuban Americans invest in and own businesses on the island, and was working on legislation to do it.

— Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of contemplating

Verb

Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space in 2012, although scientists are still debating about exactly where that boundary lies.

— Tariq Malik, Space.com, 5 Sep. 2026
Schrader approaches some pretty tetchy, third-rail territory, doing some debating about whether one act of child abuse means that John is, inherently, a child abuser by nature.

— Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of debating

Verb

Travelers who are considering booking one of these flights can use websites like SkyAccess, which posts available empty leg inventory for flights weeks or months in advance.

— Elliott Harrell, Travel + Leisure, 3 Sep. 2026
The goalkeeping department has probably been downgraded, considering the highly promising Trafford left, and was replaced by Geronimo Rulli, a solid backup option at 34 years of age.

— Sam Lee, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of considering

Verb

His team has recently been studying how hearing factors into this, and preliminary findings indicate that the sounds people make while swimming can make a shark more likely to approach from a distance.

— Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2026
Another successful student is Surovi Khatun, an undergrad student currently studying at Nawab Siraj-Ud-Dowla Government College of Natore, a neighboring district of Pabna.

— Ali Asif Shawon, NPR, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of studying

Verb

His government has consistently avoided criticizing Morocco, but Sánchez condemned comments from two Moroccan ministers questioning the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, another Spain's other territory in North Africa.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026
But the design quickly sparked backlash and support online, with some applauding the farm's call for civil discourse and others questioning why Kirk was chosen as the face of one of the attraction's biggest annual draws.

— Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of questioning

Verb

Concrete barriers designed to keep cars out of the secure area crumbled as the jet, weighing more than 100 tons, headed straight for a four-lane road.

— Maria Aguilar Prieto, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2026
After officials finished weighing and measuring it, Harmon returned the giant blue catfish alive to the Ohio River near where it was caught.

— Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of weighing

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“Deliberating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deliberating. Accessed 10 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of deliberating

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