finite verb

American  

[fahy-nahyt vurb] / ˈfaɪ naɪt ˌvɜrb /

noun

Grammar.

1. a verb form that distinguishes person, number, and tense, as well as mood or aspect: in She works from home, the verb works indicates a third-person singular subject (she ), present tense, and indicative mood, the mood used for ordinary statements and questions about facts.

---

Etymology

Origin of finite verb

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

finite verb

Every sentence, you recollect, must have one finite verb, or more than one, and one nominative, either expressed or implied, for, without them, no sentence can exist.

From English Grammar in Familiar Lectures by Samuel Kirkham

The only finite verb in the sentence, and the principal one.

From Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce

No matter how short, it must contain one finite verb and a subject or agent to direct the action of the verb.

From How to Speak and Write Correctly by Joseph Devlin

The subject of a finite verb is that which answers to who or what before it; as, "The boy runs."—Who runs?

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

Using these as auxiliaries the finite verb makes a whole series of periphrastic tenses.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various