auxiliary verb

American  

[awg-zil-yuh-ree vurb, -zil-uh-] / ɔgˈzɪl jə ri ˌvɜrb, -ˈzɪl ə- /

noun

Grammar.

1. a verb used before and together with certain forms of other verbs, such as infinitives or participles, to express distinctions of tense, duration, possibility, obligation, etc., as in I am listening, We have spoken, They can see, Did you go?

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auxiliary verb British  

noun

1. a verb used to indicate the tense, voice, mood, etc, of another verb where this is not indicated by inflection, such as English will in he will go, was in he was eating and he was eaten, do in I do like you, etc

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auxiliary verb Cultural  

1. A “helping” verb that modifies the main verb, as in “Gail can win,” “Gail did win,” “Gail could have won.” A question often begins with an auxiliary verb: “Did Gail win?” “Could Gail lose?” The various forms of the verbs can, have, is, and does frequently act as auxiliaries.

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Etymology

Origin of auxiliary verb

First recorded in 1755–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

auxiliary verb

Similarly, the allegedly unsplittable verb will execute is not a verb at all but two verbs, the auxiliary verb will and the main verb execute.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

The compound tenses are formed by the auxiliary verb esti = to be, and one of the participles of the verb which must agree in number with its subject.

From The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by Cox, George

Can, an auxiliary verb, used nearly as we now use did.

From Lancelot of the Laik A Scottish Metrical Romance by Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William)

Even when it is used, it is more frequently the inflected p. 116form of an auxiliary verb with the infinitive or participle of the main verb.

From A Handbook of the Cornish Language chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature by Jenner, Henry

In Mth. the present definite and the imperfect are formed by conjugating the present or past tense respectively of the auxiliary verb with the present participle; thus marait chī, I am striking.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various