differences - “Deliberately” vs. “intentionally” vs. “on purpose”


I wonder if there is any difference between usage of these three:



  • deliberately

  • intentionally

  • on purpose


Are they completely interchangeable? Are they at the same level of formality?


I found some explanation (forums) Googling the three words, but I don’t find them reliable since people simply stated their own opinion.


In the dictionary, they are mentioned as synonymous: deliberately means intentionally, and on purpose means deliberately.



Answer



The levels of formality are, in descending order: intentionally, deliberately, and on purpose. If you look at published books and journals that have blank pages, you'll find some with printed statements "This page intentionally left blank". That's because it's the most formal and the most neutral. Yes, deliberately is a synonym that means intentionally, but it more often has a negative connotation than intentionally does (especially among high school students, at least that was true when I was in high school), although both words are used both positively and negatively, e.g., That was {a deliberate / an intentional snub} (negative use, and Google Ngrams shows more frequent use of the former than the latter). Maybe that's merely because deliberately is more frequently used than intentionally is.


Wikipedia has an article on deliberate practice, however, which shows that word's very positive connotation. There are also Web pages for intentional practice that show its equally positive connotation. Google Ngrams shows that deliberate practice is more often used than intentional practice. On purpose is what children say for intentionally and deliberately, which is why it's the at the lowest level of formality of those three terms. They are not always interchangeable: register and context must be taken into account.


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