Verbal may mean:
- Non-finite verb, a verb form that functions both as a verb and as another lexical category.
- A word or group of words that functions as a verb by serving as the head of a verb phrase. (In some languages, adjectives are verbals.)
- Pertaining to language or the use of words in general (be it spoken or written) as opposed to non-verbal expression, or to spoken words in particular (although, this is usually a common misuse where "oral" is the correct term, e.g. "oral" v. "written" contract -- rather than "verbal" v. "written"). Examples:
- Verbal abuse
- Verbal arithmetic
- Verbal enterprise, the ongoing open discussion on the positives and negatives of a business project completed.
- People
- Roger "Verbal" Kint, a major character in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects.
- Verbal (rapper), a Japanese rapper and music producer, and member of M-Flo, Mic Banditz and Teriyaki Boyz
- Other uses
- Verbal Arts Centre, Northern Ireland; the publisher of Verbal magazine
- Verbal Behavior, a book by B. F. Skinner
- Verbal Remixes & Collaborations, an EP album by Amon Tobin
Famous quotes containing the word verbal:
“A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on.”
—Samuel Goldwyn (1882–1974)
“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“In case I conk out, this is provisionally what I have to do: I must clarify obscurities; I must make clearer definite ideas or dissociations. I must find a verbal formula to combat the rise of brutality—the principle of order versus the split atom.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)