New Word #92: Verb

ESL, Reflections, vocabulary 1 Minute

Image by Tracy Lundgren from Pixabay

Verboten is a word I learned from Bonnywood’s post here. Although it starts with verb, it doesn’t have much to do with verb.

Other Words Starting With “Verb”

There are more words that start with “verb”, but I only selected several that are commonly used.

verbatim: in exactly the same words as were used originally. “She had seen the movie so many times that she could quote it verbatim along with the characters.”

verbose: using or expressed in more words than are needed. “much academic language is obscure and verbose”. I’ve never used this word, not even once, but I’ve seen it being used several times.

verbiage: speech or writing that uses too many words or excessively technical expressions. “the basic idea here, despite all the verbiage, is simple”

verse, prose, poem : The verse refers to the single line of the poem, or any combination of words in a poem. But the prose is a large piece of writing, not having a consistent rhythm.

verbal: relating to or in the form of words. “the root of the problem is visual rather than verbal”. Actually I don’t feel that English emphasizes verbs that much, but still “verbal” refers to words in general.

verboten: forbidden, especially by an authority.

caged: I put this word here because this was how people would feel if everything was forbidden unless it was explicitly granted.

sanctioned or unsanctioned: I took me a long time to understand the difference between sanctioned, unsanctioned, forbidden, allowed. It’s an embarrassing long time, but sometimes one has a blind spot in one’s understanding. The difficulty lies in the fact that sanction means two opposite things, one is to give official permission, and the other is to impose a penalty on (something or an action). It all depends on the context.

  • sanction: give official permission or approval for (an action); impose a sanction or penalty on.
  • unsanctioned: there’s no such word as “unsanction”, but there is a word called “unsanctioned” and it means not sanctioned. This doesn’t mean an action or a thing is forbidden or allowed. It only means it hasn’t received the official blessing.

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18 thoughts on “New Word #92: Verb”

  1. Sanction’s duality reminds me of the difficulty I have had with “stipulate.” I use it to concede and others take it as a demand. That caused one of the biggest arguments I ever had with my Dad. You also remind me of a favorite word: sanctimonious.

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    1. So true. I just googled stipulate and it can be agreeing on something or be a part of a bargain. So it could mean both ways and it has to be dependent on context, I guess. I remember when I was a teenager, I had a lot of opinions, but obviously I was not allowed to express at home, which caused a lot of pent up frustration in me. It’s great that you could argue it out with somebody. I mean arguing is a very good thing.

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  4. First, thank you for the mention, as always.

    Second, it’s interesting that you brought up the dilemma with “sanction”, in that it can have various meanings depending on the context. I was just musing on the same concept as I was working on my Spanish lessons this morning. There are quite a few Spanish words that mean different things in different situations. (Not that other languages don’t have this dichotomy, I’m just using this scenario as an example.) It’s often difficult to fully grasp a non-native language when you don’t have the cultural background that goes with the usage of the words.

    But I suspect you know this fully well, yes? 😉

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    1. So true. It is so easy to misunderstand that I am often amazed at how much people (from different culture and language) understand each other. I guess language is only an aid and there are so many other ways people can communicate and understand each other.

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  6. “Verboten” is an interesting word, and you’ve made me think about it. Although it is the German for “forbidden”, German speakers probably use “verboten” more than English speakers use “forbidden”. English speakers often use it in a jokey way – maybe because of the stereotype that Germans like rules and like to forbid things. (That may be unfair of course!) I guess “prohibited” is used more often than “forbidden” – though their meanings are almost identical.

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    1. Exactly! And no, it’s not unfair … that’s the way the Germans are … the Germans are usually very narrow minded and not very flexible … believe me, I live here. And even though we share the same language (more or less), the Germans are different. Which is why I usually point out: “No, I’m not German, I’m Austrian!” 😉🤣

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      1. Hahaha. You make me laugh so hard. I’ve never met any Germans. Wait, wait. It is said the biggest ethnicity in America is German, followed by Irish and English. At least google says so. Now you make me think. I’ve watched many TV shows about Italians, Irish going back to Europe for a visit, but I’ve never watched a program about Germans going back to Germany for a visit. I wonder why. Also there are so many Italian restaurants and Irish pubs, but there’s no German restaurant or pubs. Life has so many mysteries.

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        1. I think the typical German restaurants in the US would be Bavarian. You know, bratwurst, weißwurst, sauerkraut … oktoberfest 😂. What a cliché 🤣 … many Germans and Austrians (especially Jews) fled the Nazi regime and luckily so. However, too many died in concentration camps … so much knowledge and talent lost.

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        2. I’ve never tasted wurst and oktoberfest. I wish I have the opportunity. LOL. WWII is also a turning point for most of Asian countries and many are still in the shadow of that war right now. I was so terrified of watching some of the WWII movies because they were so sad and hopeless.

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        3. Yes, absolutely horrible what happened then and also what’s happening now in some countries around the world. The human being doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes …

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