verb

(redirected from verbless)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.

verb

Verbs are used to indicate the actions, processes, conditions, or states of beings of people or things.

Verbs play an integral role to the structure of a sentence. They constitute the root of the predicate, which, along with the subject (the “doer” of the verb’s action), forms a full clause or sentence—we cannot have a sentence without a verb.

When we discuss verbs’ role in the predicate, we usually divide them into two fundamental categories: finite and non-finite verbs.

verb

(vûrb)

1. Abbr. V or vb.

a. The part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence in most languages.

b. Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, as be, run, or conceive.

2. A phrase or other construction used as a verb.

[Middle English verbe, from Old French, from Latin verbum, word, verb (translation of Greek rhēma, word, verb); see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

verb

(vɜːb)

1. (Grammar) (in traditional grammar) any of a large class of words in a language that serve to indicate the occurrence or performance of an action, the existence of a state or condition, etc. In English, such words as run, make, do, and the like are verbs

2. (Linguistics) (in modern descriptive linguistic analysis)

a. a word or group of words that functions as the predicate of a sentence or introduces the predicate

b. (as modifier): a verb phrase.

Abbreviation: vb or v

[C14: from Latin verbum a word]

ˈverbless adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

verb

(vɜrb)

n.

a member of a class of words that function as the main elements of predicates, typically express action, state, or a relation between two things, and are often formally distinguished, as by being inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood, or agreement with the subject or object. Abbr.: v.

[1350–1400; Middle English verbe < Latin verbum word]

verb

A word used to express existence or an action, or to assert something.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	verb - the word class that serves as the predicate of a sentence major form class - any of the major parts of speech of traditional grammar auxiliary verb - a verb that combines with another verb in a verb phrase to help form tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it combines with infinitive - the uninflected form of the verb verb - a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence participial, participle - a non-finite form of the verb; in English it is used adjectivally and to form compound tenses phrasal verb - an English verb followed by one or more particles where the combination behaves as a syntactic and semantic unit; "`turn out' is a phrasal verb in the question `how many turned out to vote?'" transitive, transitive verb, transitive verb form - a verb (or verb construction) that requires an object in order to be grammatical intransitive, intransitive verb, intransitive verb form - a verb (or verb construction) that does not take an object conjugation - the inflection of verbs
	2.	verb - a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence content word, open-class word - a word to which an independent meaning can be assigned verb - the word class that serves as the predicate of a sentence reflexive verb - a verb whose agent performs an action that is directed at the agent; "the sentence `he washed' has a reflexive verb"; "`perjure' is a reflexive verb because you cannot perjure anyone but yourself" copula, copulative, linking verb - an equating verb (such as `be' or `become') that links the subject with the complement of a sentence frequentative - a verb form that serves to express frequent repetition of an action

Translations

werkwoord

فِعْل

глагол

verb

sloveso

udsagnsordverbum

Verb Zeitwort Verbum

ρήμα

verbo

verbo

tegusõnaverb

verbiteonsana

verbe

פועל

क्रिया

glagol

ige

verbo

kata kerja

sagnorðsögnsögn, sagnorî

verbo ausiliare

動詞

동사

verbum

veiksmažodisžodis į žodįdaugiakalbisdaugiažodžiaujantis

darbības vārds

ക്രിയ

werkwoordvèrbwèrkwaord

verb

sloveso

glagol

verb

คำกริยา

fiil eylem

дієслово

động từ

动词動詞

verb

[vɜːb] N → verbo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

verb

[ˈvɜː^rb] n → verbe m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

verb

n → Verb nt, → Zeitwort nt, → Verbum nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

verb

[vɜːb] n → verbo

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

verb

(vəːb) noun

the word or phrase that gives the action, or asserts something, in a sentence, clause etc. I saw him; He ran away from me; I have a feeling; What is this?

ˈverbal adjective

1. of, or concerning, verbs. verbal endings such as `-fy', `-ize'.

2. consisting of, or concerning, spoken words. a verbal warning/agreement.

ˈverbally adverb

in or by speech, not writing. I replied to the invitation verbally.

verbatim (-ˈbeitim) adjective, adverb

word for word. a verbatim report of the argument; The child repeated my words verbatim.

verbose (-ˈbous) adjective

using too many words; expressed in too many words. a verbose speaker; a verbose description/style.

verb

→ فِعْل sloveso verbum Verb ρήμα verbo verbi verbe glagol verbo 動詞 동사 werkwoord verb czasownik verbo глагол verb คำกริยา fiil động từ 动词

verb

n. Gr. verbo.

References in periodicals archive ?

Finally, elliptical requests refer to verbless requests in which the item or information demanded is directly expressed.

Requests in tourist information office service encounters: An analysis of directness and gender

Under professionalism and teamwork as well, the verbless phrase, "Teamwork, solidarity, and collective responsibility" (BCIDP, 2012, p.

Bulala as An Ubuntu-Inspired Approach to Enhancing Organizational Culture in Rural Kenya

bought the milk.' Beside these conventional verbal sentences there are also verbless 'equational' sentences of the subject-predicate type, exemplified in (3) and (4) below:

Wh-Questions in Jibbali

The final chapter, 9, is a traditional presentation of elements of syntax: noun modification, verbless clauses, verbal clauses, topicalization ("Pendenskonstruktion"), agreement, coordination, and subordinate clauses.

Ugaritische Grammatik

Again, this is unrelated to syntactic valency, as it applies to the core arguments of both monovalent and bivalent clauses, and even to arguments of verbless clauses (e.g.

Non-structural Case Marking in Tibeto-Burman and Artificial Languages

His topics include phonology and phonetics, adjectives and agreement, verbless clauses, syntax of the infinite, and compositional formulae.

An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions

and other verbless structures which reflect the nonnative status of lecturers (e.g.

Checking comprehension in English-medium lectures in technical and scientific fields

The types of requests used in the earliest stages are mainly imperative verbless requests as in the first request found in the data "this and uh a birthday in a house uh and convidation and peoples." This same type of request was also found in the first stages of development in Ellis' study, where learners produced requests such as "big circle" (Ellis 1992, 11).

"Mama, ?puedo hacer una fiesta?" El desarrollo del acto de habla de pedir permiso desde la ninez hasta la adolescencia

In spoken Alyawarr, verbless sentences are common, whereas in song there is a clear preference for lines to have a verb, as can be seen in Table 10.

Alyawarr women's song-poetry of Central Australia

Robert Rudnicki, "'Verbless Patriotic Nonsense': Faulkner and Twain on War and Science Fiction" (Louisiana Tech University)