Submitted by goossun  •  June 21, 2004

negating

How do you negate the word deliberate? Undelibertae is not correct according to dictionaries. What then?

Comments Sort by:   Oldest first  •  Latest first  •  Rating

michellekerr

October 31, 2004, 2:11am

Deliberate is one of those fun English words that has two very different meanings, yet appears the same in both.

To "deliber-ATE", means: to discuss, debate, argue, etc. an issue or topic.

"They were in deliberations for hours."
"They deliberated about whether it was better to go with red than with blue."

For this meaning/pronunciation, the opposite meaning would thus be to "agree", "concur", or
"compromise".
-------------------------------------------
To do something "deliberately" or to be "deliberate" with a short 'ate' instead of a long---means: to do something willfully, with intention, on purpose.

"He deliberately ate my food in retaliation for me stealing his shampoo."

The opposite of this would thus be
"unintentional", "not on purpose", "I didn't do it deliberately!", etc.

0 vote Vote!  •  URL to this comment  •  Report Abuse

Anonymous  (unregistered)

June 21, 2004, 11:07pm

"Indeliberate" is correct, though rather antiquated and unnatural-sounding. You may want to choose a replacement word, such as: "accidental," "random," or "unplanned.

0 vote Vote!  •  URL to this comment  •  Report Abuse

Armchair Linguist  (unregistered)

July 11, 2004, 6:38am

Depending on the context, you might want to use <I>non-deliberate</I>; if it were a formal context, for example.

-<A HREF="http://comfylinguist.blogspot.com/">Arm... Linguist</A>

0 vote Vote!  •  URL to this comment  •  Report Abuse

Armchair Linguist  (unregistered)

July 11, 2004, 6:39am

Oops, I see you don't support HTML. Sorry. :)

0 vote Vote!  •  URL to this comment  •  Report Abuse

Your Comment