Basic Details
Word: Deliverance
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Being rescued or set free from danger, suffering or evil.
Synonyms: rescue, release, liberation, salvation
Antonyms: captivity, imprisonment, bondage
How to Spell Deliverance
Syllables: de - liv - er - ance
Tricky part: Deliver stays whole, with a single l, and the ending is ance, not ence. Deliverence is the usual slip.
Watch out for: deliverence, delliverance, delivrance
Memory tip: The rescue boat delivers people from the flood: deliver + ance. Think "a narrow escape" to remember the a in ance.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The end of the war brought deliverance to the people of the besieged town.
Example 2: For the villagers, the first monsoon rain felt like deliverance from a cruel summer.
Example 3: The old story tells of a king who prayed for the deliverance of his people from a famine.
Fun Fact
Deliver comes through French from the Latin liberare, to set free, which also gave us liberty and liberate.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Only one of these words can take the suffix -ance to form a real word. Choose it.
ance
a) exist
b) deliver
c) differ
d) refer
Show answer
b) deliver. Deliver takes ance; differ, exist and refer all take ence instead.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to deliverance as used in the sentence:
After three days trapped on the roof by flood water, the family prayed for deliverance.
a) captivity
b) delivery
c) danger
d) rescue
Show answer
d) rescue. Deliverance is rescue; delivery only looks alike and means bringing goods.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
delliverance
a) l
b) r
c) v
d) e
Show answer
a) l. Deliver has one l, so deliverance does too.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Deliverance is used most often about ____.
a) rescue from danger or evil
b) getting a new job
c) sending parcels to homes
d) giving a long speech
Show answer
a) rescue from danger or evil
2. For villagers troubled by bandits, deliverance would come when ____.
a) soldiers drove the bandits away
b) the bandits took more cattle
c) the river burst its banks
d) the village well ran dry
Show answer
a) soldiers drove the bandits away
