verbal noun

[ vur-buhl noun ]

nounGrammar.

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 Eating is fun, or the infinitive form, as in To see is to believe. 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“).

Origin of verbal noun

First recorded in 1700–10

Words Nearby verbal noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use verbal noun in a sentence

Good examples from Khmer (Cambodgian) are tmeu “one who walks” and daneu “walking” (verbal noun), both derived from deu “to walk.”
Language | Edward Sapir
The phrase illustrates the difference between the participle and the verbal noun (or whatever it may be called) in -ing.
The Lady of the Lake | Sir Walter Scott
Aren, or aen, eco-aco-co are case terminations; tcea-cea marks the verbal noun.
Basque Legends | Wentworth Webster
The so-called imperfect subjunctive turns out to be a verbal noun with a preposition.
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt | Daniel G. Brinton
What is the rule about names composed of a plain noun and a verbal noun?
Compound Words | Frederick W. Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for verbal noun

verbal noun

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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