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verbal auxiliary

American

noun

an auxiliary verb, especially when considered as a member of a separate class of words used with verbs rather than as a special subclass of verbs.

Etymology

Origin of verbal auxiliary

First recorded in 1955–60

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.