verbal noun

American  

[vur-buhl noun] / ˈvɜr bəl ˈnaʊn /

noun

Grammar.

1. a noun derived from a verb, especially by a process applicable to most or all verbs. In English, a verbal noun uses the -ing form, as in , or the infinitive form, as in In Latin, examples of verbal nouns include dictiō “act of speaking, utterance” (from dīcere “to say, tell, speak”) and cantus “singing, song” (from canere ”to sing“).

   Eating is fun

   To see is to believe.

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verbal noun British  

noun

1. a noun derived from a verb, such as smoking in the sentence smoking is bad for you See also gerund

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Etymology

Origin of verbal noun

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

Noteworthy is the desiderative compound formed by adding the root cāh, wish, to the dative of a verbal noun.

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

What is the rule about names composed of a plain noun and a verbal noun?

From Compound Words Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #36 by Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)

Leaving should be used either as a gerund, leaving a posterity, or as a verbal noun, the leaving of a posterity.

From The Coverley Papers by Various

Gerund, distinguished from participle and verbal noun, 177. forms of, 176. in syntax, possessive case with, 285.

From An English Grammar by Sewell, James Witt

It was probably pronounced Ya-kayan, and meant, as a verbal noun, He that strengthens; and thence, firm, stable, upright.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert