English - Etymology

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

English - Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /vɝb/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vɜːb/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)b

English - Noun

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?)

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.

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.

Hyponyms

• See also Wikisaurus:verb

Derived terms

Translations

English - Verb

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 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 L^AT_EX, 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.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

English - See Also

• v.
• copula
• auxiliary verb
• main verb

Catalan - Etymology

Latin verbum

Catalan - Noun

verb m (plural verbs)

1. verb

Norwegian Bokmål - Etymology

From Latin verbum

Norwegian Bokmål - Noun

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

1. a verb

Norwegian Bokmål - References

• “verb” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk - Etymology

From Latin verbum

Norwegian Nynorsk - Noun

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

1. a verb

Norwegian Nynorsk - References

• “verb” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian - Etymology

From Latin verbum.

Romanian - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [verb]

Romanian - Noun

verb n (plural verbe)

1. verb

Declension

Swedish - Noun

verb n

1. a verb

Declension

Related terms

• hjälpverb
• verba
• verbal
• verbatim
• verbböjning
• verbform
• verbändelse

Swedish - References

• verb in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)

قافية