verbal

Pluralverbals

Formsverbals

1. 1
   adjective

   Communicated in speech rather than in writing; oral.

   The landlord gave verbal permission for the repairs, which caused trouble later.

   His verbal promise meant little once the dispute reached court.

   Similaroral, spoken, unwritten

   Oppositewritten

   Note

   Speech set against writing is the contrast here, and Orwell draws it sharply in 1944: he is not speaking of "the verbal use" of Fascist but of "what I have seen in print." The set phrases are a verbal contract and verbal testimony. Where the "words only" meaning could intrude, oral says "spoken" without ambiguity.

2. 2
   adjective

   Relating to words, or to the use of words.

   Children develop verbal ability rapidly in their first few years.

   The puzzle relied on verbal tricks rather than numbers.

   Similarlinguistic, lexical

   Oppositenonverbal, numerical

   Note

   The broad sense the others narrow from. Its Late Latin source, verbālis, meant "belonging to a word," so the root idea is word, not verb. That is why the grammarian's "verb-like" sense is the specialized one. Here it pairs with nouns of skill and play: verbal ability, verbal tricks. The rare synonym wordish builds the same idea from plain English parts.

3. 3
   adjective

   Composed of words alone, without any other elements.

   Their feud stayed verbal and never turned into anything physical.

   The protest was entirely verbal, expressed through chants and slogans.

   Similarvocal, spoken

   Oppositephysical

   Note

   What this sense rules out is pictures and gestures, not writing. Henry Mayhew in 1864 sets an engraving against "any verbal description," which would be a written one. Dickens, in Great Expectations, sets a verbal remark against dumb-show. Readers who expect the "spoken" meaning can be misled, so check what verbal is being contrasted with.

4. 4
   adjective

   Concerned with the wording of a text rather than its meaning or substance.

   The editor's verbal corrections fixed phrasing without touching the central idea.

   Critics dismissed the review as a verbal exercise that ignored the book's themes.

   Similarstylistic, rhetorical

   Oppositesubstantive

   Note

   Here the contrast is between wording and substance, and substantive is its natural opposite. A verbal change alters the phrasing, while a substantive one alters what is said. The pairing is useful wherever drafts are revised: calling an amendment merely verbal tells readers that nothing of weight has moved. Used of criticism, it can be a put-down, implying that the critic never got past the surface.

5. 5
   adjective

   Having the ability to speak and to produce words.

   The patient remained alert and verbal throughout the examination.

   Some birds are remarkably verbal, mimicking whole phrases.

   Similarcommunicative, articulate, vocal, talkative

   Oppositenonverbal, preverbal

   Note

   In clinical writing it sorts people, often children, by whether they speak at all. Brereton and Tonge's Pre-schoolers with autism (2005) speaks of "verbal children." The opposites follow the same frame: preverbal for those not yet speaking, non-verbal for those who do not speak. The word describes ability, not talkativeness.

6. 6
   adjective

   Derived from a verb, or having the qualities of a verb.

   Participles are verbal adjectives because they keep the meaning of the verbs they come from.

   The verbal force of a gerund lets it take a direct object.

   Note

   The grammarian's adjective is most at home in fixed terms such as verbal noun and verbal adjective. There it marks a word that has crossed into another class while keeping something of the verb. Rhematic is a rarer technical synonym. Its noun counterpart is the noun for infinitives and participles.

7. 7
   adjective

   Corresponding to the original word for word; exact rather than paraphrased.

   Scholars prefer a verbal rendering of the text, with no paraphrase.

   The clerk kept a verbal account of the proceedings, omitting nothing.

   Similarliteral, verbatim

   Oppositefree, loose

   Note

   The scholar's sense is mostly met in a verbal translation: one that follows each word of the original rather than its general sense. Literal and verbatim are its synonyms, and both are now clearer. A modern reader may take a verbal translation to be a spoken one, as in the "spoken" meaning.

8. 8
   adjective

   Used in forming verbs, as a suffix or other element does.

   The verbal suffix '-ify' creates verbs like 'clarify' from adjectives.

   Many verbal endings let speakers form new verbs from nouns.

   Note

   Where the verb-like sense looks back to a verb, this one looks forward: it names the element that builds one. A verbal suffix makes verbs, while a verbal adjective was made from a verb. The same word points in opposite directions, and only the noun it modifies settles which one is meant.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A word formed from a verb that does not serve as a predicate, such as an infinitive, participle, or gerund.

   Each verbal in the passage came from a verb but acted as a noun or modifier.

   An infinitive is a verbal that can serve as the subject or object of a sentence.

   Note

   A grammar-book noun, usually met in the plural: infinitives, participles and gerunds are the verbals. Its synonym non-finite verb names the same thing by what it lacks, which is the power to serve as a clause's predicate. The adjective in the "verb-like" sense describes these forms, and this noun counts them.

10. 10
    nouncolloquialIrelandUKuncountable

    Spoken language, especially when used to tease or scold someone.

    There was a lot of verbal between the two captains before kickoff.

    He copped some verbal from his mates over the missed penalty.

    Similarbanter, abuse, stick, flak

    Note

    Talk aimed at someone is uncountable in this colloquial British and Irish use. You give someone verbal, or a bit of verbal, but never a verbal. Lenny McLean's The Guv'nor (2013) shows a typical setting, where verbal is the goading that brings out the bouncers. It ranges from teasing to abuse, and the context decides which.

11. 11
    nounIrelandUKcountable

    A confession made out loud to the police rather than in writing.

    The defense argued that the verbal had never actually been given.

    Detectives claimed the suspect offered a full verbal during questioning.

    Similarconfession, admission

    Note

    A piece of courtroom vocabulary, and a countable one: officers give evidence of verbals. The 1982 New South Wales Parliamentary Debates describe six of them used to convict three men. The word tends to surface when such admissions are disputed, since nothing was signed. That suspicion hardens into the verb for faking one.

12. 12
    verbAustraliaBritishtransitive

    To allege, usually falsely, that someone made a spoken confession.

    Officers were accused of conspiring to verbal the young man.

    The barrister claimed the police had verballed her client during the interview.

    Note

    The noun for a disputed confession becomes a verb in British and Australian English: to verbal someone is to put an admission in their mouth. UK spelling doubles the l in verballed and verballing. The verb is mostly met in the passive or as a gerund: a suspect claims he was verballed, and lawyers weigh the risk of verballing.

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