verbal

From Old French verbal, from Late Latin verbālis (“belonging to a word”). Equivalent to verb +‎ -al.

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː.bəl/, [ˈvɜː.bɫ̩], enPR: vûrʹ-bəl

  • Audio (Queensland):

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• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝ.bəl/, [ˈvɝ.bɫ̩], enPR: vûrʹ-bəl

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ver‧bal
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bəl

verbal (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to words.

   Synonym: wordish

2. Concerned with the words, rather than the substance of a text.

   Antonym: substantive

3. Consisting of words only.
   • 1864, Henry Mayhew, German Life and Manners as Seen in Saxony at the Present:

     We subjoin an engraving […] which will give the reader a far better notion of the structure than any verbal description could convey to the mind.

   • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations:

     It was not a verbal remark, but a proceeding in dumb-show

4. Expressly spoken rather than written; oral.

   a verbal contract

   a verbal testimony

   • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations:

     You can't have verbal communication with a man in New South Wales, you know.

   • 1944, George Orwell, “What is Fascism?”, in Tribune:

     I am not speaking of the verbal use of the term 'Fascist'. I am speaking of what I have seen in print.

5. (grammar) Derived from, or having the nature of a verb.

   Synonym: rhematic

6. (grammar) Used to form a verb.
7. Capable of speech.

   Antonyms: preverbal, non-verbal

   • 2005, Avril V. Brereton, Bruce J. Tonge, Pre-schoolers with autism, page 55:

     How do these language problems affect the behaviour of verbal children?

8. Word for word.

   Synonyms: literal, verbatim

   a verbal translation

9. (obsolete) Abounding with words; verbose.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     You put me to forget a lady’s manners
     By being so verbal; and learn now, for all,
     That I, which know my heart, do here pronounce
     By th’ very truth of it, I care not for you

• (of or relating to speech or words): lectic

• (antonym(s) of “expressly spoken or written”): implied
• (antonym(s) of “expressly stated”): unsaid

verbal (countable and uncountable, plural verbals)

2. (countable, grammar) A verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.

   Synonym: non-finite verb

3. (countable, UK, Ireland) A spoken confession given to police.
   • 1982, New South Wales. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, page 2496:

     They were convicted on the evidence of an agent provocateur named Richard Seary, backed up by police verbals from three police officers who gave evidence of six verbals in which the three accused were supposed to have admitted their guilt.

4. (uncountable, UK, Ireland, colloquial) Talk; speech, especially banter or scolding.
   • 2013, Lenny McLean, The Guv'nor:

     We'd give him a bit of verbal, out would come the bouncers, chucking their weight about, and it would all end in a right tear-up.

verbal (third-person singular simple present verbals, present participle verballing, simple past and past participle verballed)

1. (transitive, British, Australia) To allege (usually falsely) that someone has made an oral admission.
   • 1982, John A. Andrews, Human Rights in Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Study, BRILL, →ISBN, page 128:

     The problem of 'verballing' is unlikely to disappear, whatever the legal status of the person detained.

   • 2001, Chris Cunneen, Conflict, Politics and Crime: Aboriginal Communities and the Police, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 116:

     Condren had always claimed that he was assaulted and verballed by police over the murder he had supposedly confessed to committing. Specifically, Condren claimed that he had been subjected to assault and intimidation prior to making a police record of interview, that the record of interview was largely fabricated by police, and that the oral admissions which police claimed he had made prior to the record of interview were also fabricated.

   • 2004, Jeremy Gans, Andrew Palmer, Australian Principles of Evidence, Routledge Cavendish, →ISBN, page 504:

     "Moreover, given the risk of verballing, it is by no means apparent that it is in the interests of justice that the prosecution have the benefit of admissions that are made on occasions when recordings are impracticable."

   • 2019, Kate Burridge, Tonya N. Stebbins, For the love of language: An Introduction to Linguistics‎^[1], page 305:

     Kelvin Condren maintained his innocence, claiming that he was 'verballed' in his police record of interview (so they were someone else's words not his).

   • 2020, Inigo Bing, Populism on Trial: What Happens When Trust in Law Breaks Down‎^[2]:

     As the necessary ingredient of an intention to commit an offence usually came from the mouth of the suspect himself, it was not difficult to make an arrest if the suspect was 'verballed'. A 'verbal' consisted of an unequivocal oral admission of guilt made to a police officer on the street, which, later on, the police officer transcribed into his notebook. It is called a 'verbal' if the suspect later denies making the incriminating remark.

• Varble, Vrabel

Internationalism, compare English verbal, Italian verbale.

• IPA^(key): /veɾˈbal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: ver‧bál

verbal (feminine verbale)

1. (literary)

   Antonym: gojor

• verbalizëm

• “verbal”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

By surface analysis, verbo (“verb”) +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /beɾˈbal/
• Syllabification: ver‧bal
• Rhymes: -al

verbal (plural verbals)

1. (grammar) verbal (relating to verbs)

   Synonym: verballo

• “verbal”, in Aragonario, diccionario aragonés–castellano (in Spanish)

From Late Latin verbālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bərˈbal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vərˈbal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [veɾˈbal]

verbal m or f (masculine and feminine plural verbals)

1. verbal (of or relating to words)
2. verbal (spoken rather than written)
3. (grammar) verbal (relating to verbs)

• verb

• “verbal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from Late Latin verbālis. By surface analysis, verbe +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.bal/
• Homophones: verbale, verbales

verbal (feminine verbale, masculine plural verbaux, feminine plural verbales)

1. verbal

• cadrage verbal
• diarrhée verbale
• locution verbale
• temps verbal

• “verbal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁˈbaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

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• Rhymes: -aːl

verbal (strong nominative masculine singular verbaler, not comparable)

1. verbal

   Synonym: mündlich

2. (linguistics) verbal

• “verbal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “verbal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

From Dutch verbaal, from Middle French verbal, from Latin verbālis. Doublet of perbal.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛrbal/ [ˈfɛr.bal]
• Rhymes: -ɛrbal
• Syllabification: ver‧bal

verbal (comparative lebih verbal, superlative paling verbal)

1. verbal, oral (expressly spoken rather than written)
2. (linguistics) verbal (pertaining to verbs)

• “verbal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Learned borrowing from Late Latin verbālis.^[1] By surface analysis, verbo +‎ -al.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: ver‧bal

verbal m or f (plural verbais)

1. verbal, oral
2. (grammar) verbal (derived from, or having the nature of a verb)

• verbalmente

Borrowed from French verbal, from Latin verbalis.

verbal m or n (feminine singular verbală, masculine plural verbali, feminine and neuter plural verbale)

1. verbal

Borrowed from Late Latin verbālis.

• IPA^(key): /beɾˈbal/ [beɾˈβ̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ver‧bal

verbal m or f (masculine and feminine plural verbales)

1. verbal (of or relating to words)
2. verbal (spoken rather than written)
3. (grammar) verbal (relating to verbs)

verbal m (plural verbales)

1. (grammar) verbal

• “verbal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024