diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ad9549f..c37367b2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ Usage:
   yq [command]
 
 Available Commands:
-  delete      yq d [--inplace/-i] [--doc/-d index] sample.yaml 'b.e(name==fred).value'
+  delete      yq d [--inplace/-i] [--doc/-d index] sample.yaml 'b.e(name==fred)'
   help        Help about any command
   merge       yq m [--inplace/-i] [--doc/-d index] [--overwrite/-x] [--append/-a] sample.yaml sample2.yaml
   new         yq n [--script/-s script_file] a.b.c newValue
diff --git a/cmd/commands_test.go b/cmd/commands_test.go
index 772885a4..220728f1 100644
--- a/cmd/commands_test.go
+++ b/cmd/commands_test.go
@@ -1255,7 +1255,7 @@ b:
 	test.AssertResult(t, expectedOutput, result.Output)
 }
 
-func TestDeleteYamlArray(t *testing.T) {
+func TestDeleteYamlArrayCmd(t *testing.T) {
 	content := `- 1
 - 2
 - 3
@@ -1275,6 +1275,26 @@ func TestDeleteYamlArray(t *testing.T) {
 	test.AssertResult(t, expectedOutput, result.Output)
 }
 
+func TestDeleteYamlArrayExpressionCmd(t *testing.T) {
+	content := `- name: fred
+- name: cat
+- name: thing
+`
+	filename := test.WriteTempYamlFile(content)
+	defer test.RemoveTempYamlFile(filename)
+
+	cmd := getRootCommand()
+	result := test.RunCmd(cmd, fmt.Sprintf("delete %s (name==cat)", filename))
+	if result.Error != nil {
+		t.Error(result.Error)
+	}
+
+	expectedOutput := `- name: fred
+- name: thing
+`
+	test.AssertResult(t, expectedOutput, result.Output)
+}
+
 func TestDeleteYamlMulti(t *testing.T) {
 	content := `apples: great
 ---
diff --git a/cmd/delete.go b/cmd/delete.go
index 5d857751..b1153109 100644
--- a/cmd/delete.go
+++ b/cmd/delete.go
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ func createDeleteCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	var cmdDelete = &cobra.Command{
 		Use:     "delete [yaml_file] [path_expression]",
 		Aliases: []string{"d"},
-		Short:   "yq d [--inplace/-i] [--doc/-d index] sample.yaml 'b.e(name==fred).value'",
+		Short:   "yq d [--inplace/-i] [--doc/-d index] sample.yaml 'b.e(name==fred)'",
 		Example: `
 yq delete things.yaml 'a.b.c'
 yq delete things.yaml 'a.*.c'
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/delete_navigation_strategy.go b/pkg/yqlib/delete_navigation_strategy.go
index becad835..de51e306 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/delete_navigation_strategy.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/delete_navigation_strategy.go
@@ -22,10 +22,7 @@ func DeleteNavigationStrategy(pathElementToDelete string) NavigationStrategy {
 			log.Debug("need to find and delete %v in here", pathElementToDelete)
 			DebugNode(node)
 			if node.Kind == yaml.SequenceNode {
-				newContent, errorDeleting := deleteFromArray(node.Content, pathElementToDelete)
-				if errorDeleting != nil {
-					return errorDeleting
-				}
+				newContent := deleteFromArray(parser, node.Content, nodeContext.PathStack, pathElementToDelete)
 				node.Content = newContent
 			} else if node.Kind == yaml.MappingNode {
 				node.Content = deleteFromMap(parser, node.Content, nodeContext.PathStack, pathElementToDelete)
@@ -49,19 +46,28 @@ func deleteFromMap(pathParser PathParser, contents []*yaml.Node, pathStack []int
 	return newContents
 }
 
-func deleteFromArray(content []*yaml.Node, pathElementToDelete string) ([]*yaml.Node, error) {
+func deleteFromArray(pathParser PathParser, content []*yaml.Node, pathStack []interface{}, pathElementToDelete string) []*yaml.Node {
 
-	if pathElementToDelete == "*" {
-		return make([]*yaml.Node, 0), nil
+	var indexToDelete, err = strconv.ParseInt(pathElementToDelete, 10, 64) // nolint
+	if err == nil {
+		return deleteIndexInArray(content, indexToDelete)
 	}
+	log.Debug("%v is not a numeric index, finding matching patterns", pathElementToDelete)
+	var newArray = make([]*yaml.Node, 0)
 
-	var index, err = strconv.ParseInt(pathElementToDelete, 10, 64) // nolint
-	if err != nil {
-		return content, err
+	for _, childValue := range content {
+		if !pathParser.MatchesNextPathElement(NewNodeContext(childValue, pathElementToDelete, []string{}, pathStack), childValue.Value) {
+			newArray = append(newArray, childValue)
+		}
 	}
+	return newArray
+}
+
+func deleteIndexInArray(content []*yaml.Node, index int64) []*yaml.Node {
+	log.Debug("deleting index %v in array", index)
 	if index >= int64(len(content)) {
 		log.Debug("index %v is greater than content length %v", index, len(content))
-		return content, nil
+		return content
 	}
-	return append(content[:index], content[index+1:]...), nil
+	return append(content[:index], content[index+1:]...)
 }