Origin: Latin suffix -al
Verbal has 9 different meanings across 1 category:
A verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.
In plain English: Verbal is short for someone who talks too much and won't stop talking about themselves.
"The teacher asked for a verbal on how to solve the equation before moving on to writing it down."
Usage: As a noun, "verbal" refers to words like gerunds or infinitives that function as nouns rather than verbs in a sentence. Do not confuse this with the adjective meaning spoken aloud; if you mean speech itself, use the word "speech."
To induce into fabricating a confession.
In plain English: To verbal means to speak your thoughts out loud instead of keeping them inside your head.
"Verbal communication is important in any relationship."
of or relating to or formed from a verb
"verbal adjectives like `running' in `hot and cold running water'"
relating to or having facility in the use of words
"a good poet is a verbal artist"
"a merely verbal writer who sacrifices content to sound"
"verbal aptitude"
Of or relating to words.
Verbal comes from the Old French word verbal, which was borrowed from Late Latin verbālis. This term originally meant "belonging to a word."