Délivré

Délivré is the past participle of the French verb délivrer and is used as an adjective or in the passive voice. Its senses include freeing or releasing someone or something from confinement or oppression, providing or issuing a document or permit, and relieving a person from pain or burden. In religious or moral contexts, déliverance is the broader idea of deliverance or salvation from danger, sin, or evil, and délir’é is sometimes used in literary or rhetorical language to evoke this sense of rescue.

Grammatical notes: as an adjective, délivré agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies (un document délivré, une personne délivrée, des prisonniers délivrés). It is commonly used with the construction délivrer quelqu’un de quelque chose, meaning to free someone from something (for example, délivrer une personne de ses chaînes). The verb can also express the act of issuing or providing something, as in délivrer un permis or délivrer un certificat.

Etymology: délivré comes from Old French delivrer, built from de- plus livrer (to deliver, to hand over). The verb form is related to the broader family of words linked to liberation, and is ultimately connected to Latin liberare, meaning to set free. The sense of delivering goods or documents arose from the broader meaning of handing over or making available.

Usage and translations: in English, the key senses are to deliver, to free or release, and to issue (a document). Common expressions include: un document délivré (an issued document), un prisonnier délivré (a released prisoner), délivrer quelqu’un de la douleur (to relieve someone of pain), and the religious idea of délivrance or deliverance.