verb

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Verb and vèrb

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English verbe, from Old French verbe, from Latin verbum (“word, verb”), from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰo-. Doublet of word.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

verb (plural verbs)

  1. (grammar) A word that indicates an action, event, or state.
    The word “speak” is an English verb.
  2. (obsolete) Any word; a vocable.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)
  3. (figuratively) An action as opposed to a trait or thing.
    Kindness is a verb, not an adjective. You're only kind if you do kind things.
  4. (programming) A named command that performs a specific operation on an object.
    • 1995, Adam Denning, OLE Controls Inside Out (page 321)
      You can invoke the Properties OLE verb in many ways. The easiest way is to move the mouse over the border of the control until it becomes only a four-way pointer and then right-click.
    • 2016, Ada Gavrilovska, Attaining High Performance Communications: A Vertical Approach
      The InfiniBand verbs, which are closely modeled in the “Gen2” interface, provide the functional specification for the operations that should be allowed on an InfiniBand compliant adapter.

Usage notes[edit]

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.

Quotations[edit]

  • 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.

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

verb (third-person singular simple present verbs, present participle verbing, simple past and past participle verbed)

  1. (transitive, nonstandard, colloquial) To use any word that is not, or had not been 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
  2. (used as a neutral, unspecific verb, often in linguistics and the social sciences) To perform any action that is normally expressed by a verb.
    • 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.

Conjugation[edit]

Conjugation of verb
infinitive (to) verb
present tense past tense
1st person singular verb verbed
2nd person singular verb, verbest*
3rd person singular verbs, verbeth*
plural verb
subjunctive verb
imperative verb —
participles verbing verbed
* Archaic or obsolete.

Quotations[edit]

See also[edit]

Catalan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin verbum.

Noun[edit]

verb m (plural verbs)

  1. verb

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology[edit]

From Latin verbum.

Noun[edit]

verb n (definite singular verbet, indefinite plural verb or verber, definite plural verba or verbene)

  1. (grammar) verb

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology[edit]

From Latin verbum.

Noun[edit]

verb n (definite singular verbet, indefinite plural verb, definite plural verba)

  1. (grammar) verb

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Romanian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ro

Etymology[edit]

From Latin verbum.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

verb n (plural verbe)

  1. verb

Declension[edit]

declension of verb
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) verb verbul (niște) verbe verbele
genitive/dative (unui) verb verbului (unor) verbe verbelor
vocative verbule verbelor

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

verb n

  1. (grammar) verb

Declension[edit]

Declension of verb 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative verb verbet verb verben
Genitive verbs verbets verbs verbens

Synonyms[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Terms related to verb

References[edit]

Veps[edit]

Etymology[edit]

EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page per etymology instructions. You can also discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.

Noun[edit]

verb

  1. verb

Inflection[edit]

Inflection of verb
nominative sing. verb
genitive sing. verban
partitive sing. verbad
partitive plur. verboid
singular plural
nominative verb verbad
accusative verban verbad
genitive verban verboiden
partitive verbad verboid
essive-instructive verban verboin
translative verbaks verboikš
inessive verbas verboiš
elative verbaspäi verboišpäi
illative ? verboihe
adessive verbal verboil
ablative verbalpäi verboilpäi
allative verbale verboile
abessive verbata verboita
comitative verbanke verboidenke
prolative verbadme verboidme
approximative I verbanno verboidenno
approximative II verbannoks verboidennoks
egressive verbannopäi verboidennopäi
terminative I ? verboihesai
terminative II verbalesai verboilesai
terminative III verbassai —
additive I ? verboihepäi
additive II verbalepäi verboilepäi

References[edit]

  • Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “глагол”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=verb&oldid=50544276"