delebat

Delebat is the imperfect active indicative third-person singular form of the Latin verb delere, meaning to destroy or to erase. The form expresses ongoing or repeated action in the past, so it translates best as “he was destroying” or “he used to destroy.” Delere belongs to the second conjugation; the stem is dele-, and delebat is formed with the imperfect suffix -bat. The full imperfect paradigm for deleo/delere would include delebam, delebas, delebat, delebamus, delebatis, delebant.

Usage and meaning: In classical Latin, delebat appears in narratives and other prose to describe past destruction or erasure, both literal and figurative. The typical word order places the object after the verb, as in Caesar urbem delebat, meaning “Caesar was destroying the city.” The sense can extend to metaphorical destruction, such as erasing records or memories in rhetorical or legal contexts.

Relation to other forms: Delebat is a single inflected form of the lexeme delere. The active infinitive is delere, the perfect passive participle is deletus, and the imperfect form is complemented by other persons and tenses (e.g., delebas, delebat, delebamus). The verb’s broader semantic field includes both physical destruction and acts of erasure or abolition.

See also: delere; deleo; Latin grammar; imperfect indicative.