verb
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
See also Verb
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Old French verbe, from Latin verbum (“‘word’”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer-.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
verb (plural verbs)
- (grammar) A word that indicates an action, event, or state.
- The word “speak” is an English verb.
[edit] Usage notes
Verbs compose a fundamental category of words in most languages. In an English clause, a verb forms the head of the predicate of the clause. In many languages, verbs uniquely conjugate for tense and aspect.
[edit] Quotations
- 2001 — Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, p 221
- Then you could say that the doorway exploded. But the particular verb doesn't do the action justice. Rather, it shattered into infinitesimal pieces.
[edit] Hyponyms
- See also Wikisaurus:verb
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
(grammar) a word that indicates an action, event, or a state
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[edit] Verb
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to verb (third-person singular simple present verbs, present participle verbing, simple past and past participle verbed)
- (transitive, nonstandard, colloquial) To use any word that is not a verb (especially a noun) as if it were a verb.
- a. 1981 Feb 22, unknown Guardian editor as quoted by William Safire, On Language, in New York Times, pSM3
- Haig, in congressional hearings before his confirmatory, paradoxed his auditioners by abnormalling his responds so that verbs were nouned, nouns verbed and adjectives adverbised. He techniqued a new way to vocabulary his thoughts so as to informationally uncertain anybody listening about what he had actually implicationed... .
- 1997, David. F. Griffiths, Desmond J. Higham, learning LATEX, p8
- Nouns should never be verbed.
- 2005 Oct 5, Jeffrey Mattison, Letters, in The Christian Science Monitor, p8
- In English, verbing nouns is okay
- a. 1981 Feb 22, unknown Guardian editor as quoted by William Safire, On Language, in New York Times, pSM3
- (used as a neutral, unspecific verb, often in linguistics and the social sciences) To perform any action that is normally expressed by a verb; for example, to kiss, to be, to think, to write, to disappear, to feel, to see, etc.
- 1946: Rand Corporation, The Rand Paper Series
- For example, one-part versions of the proposition "The doctor pursued the lawyer" were "The doctor verbed the object," ...
- 1964: Journal of Mathematical Psychology
- Each sentence had the same basic structure: The subject transitive verbed the object who intransitive verbed in the location.
- 1998: Marilyn A. Walker, Aravind Krishna Joshi, Centering Theory in Discourse
- The sentence frame was Dan verbed Ben approaching the store. This sentence frame was followed in all cases by He went inside.
- 1946: Rand Corporation, The Rand Paper Series
[edit] Quotations
- For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.
[edit] See also
[edit] Romanian
[edit] Etymology
From Latin verbum.
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: [verb]
[edit] Noun
[edit] Declension
declension of verb
Categories: Old French derivations | Latin derivations | Proto-Indo-European derivations | English nouns | Grammar | Translation requests (Swazi) | English verbs | Nonstandard | Colloquial | Linguistics | English autological terms | Parts of speech | Verbs | ro:Latin derivations | Romanian nouns | ro:Parts of speech