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Glite Dictionary
verbless

verbless

1 6.7
A sentence or phrase without a verb
  • adjective
  • /ˈvɜrbləs/
  • Specialized
: sin verbo
  • In linguistics, definitions often characterize such statements as verbless when they lack any verb forms.

Examples

  • In the Hebrew, clauses (2) and (3) do not contain a finite verb and are termed "verbless clauses."

    Blog text (7)

  • The phrase "A beautiful day" is an example of a verbless expression that conveys a complete thought without using a verb.

  • There also appear to be verbless clauses such as "The line of light at the bottom," "My beacon," and "The apple of his eye," which have connotations of inactivity and repress the agency function.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Many poetic lines can be classified as verbless because they rely on imagery without the necessity of verbs.

Surface Forms

verbless positive

Morphology

verbless = verb (transparent) = verb + less

The adjective is formed by straightforward suffixation of '-less' to 'verb', meaning 'without verbs', which is directly derivable by learners familiar with both elements.

Etymology

The word verbless is made of verb and the part -less. Verb comes from Latin verbum meaning 'word' and -less means 'without', so verbless literally means 'without a verb' and is used for sentences or clauses that have no verb.