verbal
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
Etymology: From Old French verbal, from Late Latin verbālis (“belonging to a word”). Equivalent to verb + -al.
Base: verb
Affixes: -al
Inflected forms:
form: verbals
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: verbals
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: verbaling
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
present
form: verballing
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
present
form: verbaled
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
past
form: verbaled
pos: verb
tags: US
past
form: verballed
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
past
form: verballed
pos: verb
tags: UK
past
Senses:
gloss: Of or relating to words.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Concerned with the words, rather than the substance of a text.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Consisting of words only.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: We subjoin an engraving […] which will give the reader a far better notion of the structure than any verbal description could convey to the mind.
It was not a verbal remark, but a proceeding in dumb-show
gloss: Expressly spoken rather than written; oral.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: a verbal contract
a verbal testimony
You can't have verbal communication with a man in New South Wales, you know.
I am not speaking of the verbal use of the term 'Fascist'. I am speaking of what I have seen in print.
gloss: Derived from, or having the nature of a verb.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Used to form a verb.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Capable of speech.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: How do these language problems affect the behaviour of verbal children?
gloss: Word for word.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: a verbal translation
gloss: Abounding with words; verbose.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
examples: You put me to forget a lady’s manners
By being so verbal; and learn now, for all,
That I, which know my heart, do here pronounce
By th’ very truth of it, I care not for you
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: A spoken confession given to police.
pos: noun
tags: Ireland
UK
countable
examples: They were convicted on the evidence of an agent provocateur named Richard Seary, backed up by police verbals from three police officers who gave evidence of six verbals in which the three accused were supposed to have admitted their guilt.
gloss: Talk; speech, especially banter or scolding.
pos: noun
tags: Ireland
UK
colloquial
uncountable
examples: We'd give him a bit of verbal, out would come the bouncers, chucking their weight about, and it would all end in a right tear-up.
gloss: To allege (usually falsely) that someone has made an oral admission.
pos: verb
tags: Australia
UK
transitive
examples: The problem of 'verballing' is unlikely to disappear, whatever the legal status of the person detained.
Condren had always claimed that he was assaulted and verballed by police over the murder he had supposedly confessed to committing. Specifically, Condren claimed that he had been subjected to assault and intimidation prior to making a police record of interview, that the record of interview was largely fabricated by police, and that the oral admissions which police claimed he had made prior to the record of interview were also fabricated.
"Moreover, given the risk of verballing, it is by no means apparent that it is in the interests of justice that the prosecution have the benefit of admissions that are made on occasions when recordings are impracticable."
Kelvin Condren maintained his innocence, claiming that he was 'verballed' in his police record of interview (so they were someone else's words not his).
As the necessary ingredient of an intention to commit an offence usually came from the mouth of the suspect himself, it was not difficult to make an arrest if the suspect was 'verballed'. A 'verbal' consisted of an unequivocal oral admission of guilt made to a police officer on the street, which, later on, the police officer transcribed into his notebook. It is called a 'verbal' if the suspect later denies making the incriminating remark.
Synonyms: lectic
Antonyms: implied
unsaid
Related words: verbalism
verbality
verbiage
Derived words: anteverbal
antiverbal
averbal
biverbal
coverbal
cruciverbal
extraverbal
hyperverbal
interverbal
intraverbal
monoverbal
nonverbal
non-verbal leak
paraverbal
postverbal
pseudoverbal
subverbal
triverbal
univerbal
verbal adjective
verbal assault
verbal authority
verbal communication
verbal complement
verbal constipation
verbal diarrhea
verbal diarrhoea
verbal humiliation
verbalist
verbalistic
verbally
verbalness
verbal note
verbal noun
verbal overshadowing
verbal participle
verbal regency
verbal substantive
verbal warning
visuoverbal
Translations: