What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Deliver vs Sell - What's the difference?

deliver | sell |

In obsolete terms the difference between deliver and sell

is that deliver is to admit; to allow to pass while sell is a seat or stool.

As verbs the difference between deliver and sell

is that deliver is to set free while sell is to transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.

As a noun sell is

an act of selling.

deliver

English

Alternative forms

* delivre (archaic)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To set free.
  • (label) To do with birth.
  • # To give birth.
  • # To assist in the birth of.
  • # To assist (a female) in bearing, that is, in bringing forth (a child).
  • #* Gower
  • She was delivered safe and soon.
  • (label) To free from or disburden of anything.
  • * (Henry Peacham) (1578-c.1644)
  • Tully was long ere he could be delivered of a few verses, and those poor ones.
  • To bring or transport something to its destination.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=Mr. Cooke had had a sloop?yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered .}}
  • To hand over or surrender (someone or something) to another.
  • * Bible, (w) xl. 13
  • Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • The constables have delivered her over.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • The exalted mind / All sense of woe delivers to the wind.
  • To express in words, declare, or utter.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 27, author=Nathan Rabin, work=The Onion AV Club
  • , title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992) , passage=It’s a lovely sequence cut too short because the show seems afraid to give itself over to romance and whimsy and wistfulness when it has wedgie jokes to deliver .}}
  • To give forth in action or exercise; to discharge.
  • * Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)
  • shaking his head and delivering some show of tears
  • * Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • An uninstructed bowler thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straight forward.
  • To discover; to show.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I'll deliver myself your loyal servant.
  • (label) To admit; to allow to pass.
  • (Francis Bacon)

    Synonyms

    * (to set free) * (to express)

    Derived terms

    * delivery * deliverable * deliver the goods

    Anagrams

    *

    sell

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) sellen, from (etyl) , Icelandic selja.

    Verb

  • (intransitive) To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
  • * Bible, (w) xix. 21
  • If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A new prescription , passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
  • (ergative) To be sold.
  • To promote a particular viewpoint.
  • (slang) To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
  • * (Charles Dickens)
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=January 12, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC
  • , title= Liverpool 2-1 Liverpool , passage=Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.}}
  • (professional wrestling, slang) To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
  • Antonyms
    * buy
    Derived terms
    * sell-by date * sell-out * sell-outs * sell-through * sell down * sell down the river * sell ice to Eskimos * sell like hotcakes * sell one's soul * sell out * sell refrigerators to Eskimos * sell wolf tickets

    Quotations

    * To trick, or cheat someone. *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of selling.
  • This is going to be a tough sell .
  • An easy task.
  • * 1922': What a '''sell for Lena! - (Katherine Mansfield), ''The Doll's House (Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, 354)
  • (colloquial, dated) An imposition, a cheat; a hoax.
  • * 1919 ,
  • "Of course a miracle may happen, and you may be a great painter, but you must confess the chances are a million to one against it. It'll be an awful sell if at the end you have to acknowledge you've made a hash of it."

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) selle, from (etyl) sella.

    Alternative forms

    * selle (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A seat or stool.
  • (Fairfax)
  • (archaic) A saddle.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.ii:
  • turning to that place, in which whyleare / He left his loftie steed with golden sell , / And goodly gorgeous barbes, him found not theare [...].