verb

American  

[vurb] / vɜrb /

noun

1. any member of a class of words that function as the main elements of predicates, that typically express action, state, or a relation between two things, and that may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood, and to show agreement with their subject or object.

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verb British  

/ vɜːb /

noun

1. (in traditional grammar) any of a large class of words in a language that serve to indicate the occurrence or performance of an action, the existence of a state or condition, etc. In English, such words as run, make, do, and the like are verbs

2. 1. a word or group of words that functions as the predicate of a sentence or introduces the predicate

   2. ( as modifier )

      a verb phrase

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verb Cultural  

1. A word that represents an action or a state of being. Go, strike, travel, and exist are examples of verbs. A verb is the essential part of the predicate of a sentence. The grammatical forms of verbs include number, person, and tense. (See auxiliary verb, infinitive, intransitive verb, irregular verb, participle, regular verb, and transitive verb.)

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Grammar

The key word in most sentences, the word that reveals what is happening, is the verb. It can declare something ( You ran ), ask a question ( Did you run? ), convey a command ( Run faster! ), or express a wish ( May this good weather last! ) or a possibility ( If you had run well, you might have won; if you run better tomorrow, you may win ). You cannot have a complete English sentence without at least one verb. Understandably, this multitalented part of speech can be analyzed and categorized in any of several ways. For example, this dictionary distinguishes between a transitive verb, labeled “(used with object),” as in The country fought two wars at the same time, and an intransitive verb, labeled “(used without object),” as in He fought in both of them. As we can see with fight, some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. Another analysis is offered by the grammarians Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik in their renowned A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. They divide verbs into three categories: (1) modal auxiliary verbs, a short list comprising can, may, will, shall, could, might, would, should, and must, all of which are “helping” verbs, as in Congress will vote tomorrow, and (2) primary verbs, the smallest group— be, do, and have —all three of which can be either auxiliaries ( I am leaving for school now; I did finish my homework; I have studied enough ) or main verbs ( I am happy; I did my best; I have a good teacher ), and (3) full verbs, the largest group by far, containing all the rest. A third approach differentiates an action verb from one that is stative. An action verb expresses something you can do ( run, study, sit, want ) or something that can happen ( leak, end, appear, collapse ). In contrast, a stative verb expresses an ongoing state or condition ( I know all the answers; we own our house; they fear failure ). Some verbs, like be, are in both camps: In she is careless, the verb is is stative, describing a permanent trait. In she was being careless in losing those documents, the verb was is an action verb, describing a specific act of carelessness. The same mutability is seen in verbs of the senses ( smell, taste, feel ): Mmm, smell that coffee [action]; the coffee smells wonderful [stative]. We can also distinguish the linking verb (more formally known as a copula ) from verbs that can take an object or be modified by an adverb. Linking verbs identify or describe a subject by connecting it with a noun, an adjective, or a prepositional phrase in a following complement ( she is a doctor; they were delighted; we will be at the party ). Other linking verbs, like feel, appear, smell, taste, look, become, and stay perform the same concatenating function. A number of them happen to be stative, but not all; get and act, for example, are both linking and action verbs ( the weather got warmer yesterday; she acted surprised ). As we can see, a single verb can be categorized in more than one way, depending on which type of analysis we subject it to. And finally, we can look at English verbs in terms of a number of grammatical features that are expressed by changes in their form or changes in the way sentences are constructed. These features are tense ² (such as present and past), voice (active or passive), person (first, second, or third), number (singular or plural), and mood ² (such as indicative and subjunctive)—each defined at its own Dictionary.com entry.

Usage

What is a verb? A verb is a word that expresses action, state of being, or a relation between two things in a sentence. It acts as the main part of the predicate of a sentence. A verb says what is happening in a sentence, as in I ran across the street. Every complete English sentence contains a verb. We categorize verbs in several different ways, such as whether they are used with objects. Transitive verbs are used with objects, as in The man bought eggs. Bought is the verb, and eggs is the object. Intransitive verbs are not followed by objects, as in The children slept. We can also categorize verbs based on what they express. Action verbs express things you can do or things that can happen, as in The player kicked the ball. Kicking is a thing you can do. Stative verbs express ongoing states, as in The tree is old. Old is a state you can be in. We also categorize verbs by how they change their form or construction to adjust to a sentence. Verbs have features known as tense, voice, person, number, and mood. Here are some examples of the different features of verbs:

• Past tense: I walked home yesterday.
• Passive voice: The clown was hit by a pie.
• Second person: You are a wonderful musician.
• Plural number: The musicians play many songs.

Imperative mood: Pass the salt, please.

Other Word Forms

• verbless adjective

Etymology

Origin of verb

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verbe, from Latin verbum word

Compare meaning

How does verb compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• noun vs. verb
• verb vs. adverb

Explanation

A verb is the part of speech that indicates what something does, or what it is. It's also the basic component of the predicate of a sentence. You may know that a verb is just another part of speech, like a noun or an adverb. The verb, however, can be in different tenses, meaning the action might have happened in the past or it might be now, or it could even be planned for the future. So the verb walk in the past tense would be walked, and in the future would be will walk.

Example Sentences

And hey, did you know that the word “raptor”—which is often used to describe birds of prey—comes from the Latin verb rapio, which means to plunder, rob, ravish, or abduct?

From Slate • Feb. 21, 2026

On economic development, Mr. Youngkin several times uses the verb “compete,” in the sense that Virginia must compete against other Southeastern states for capital investment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

“The object or the predicate comes first, the verb is in the middle and then the subject comes at the end,” says Watkins.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 10, 2025

How many words does Ellie have now, not counting like the past tense of a verb or something?

From Salon • Nov. 2, 2025

When both halves of the subject—the parts on either side of or or nor—are singular, so is the verb: Neither alcohol nor tobacco is allowed.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner