Definition of "verbal" []

• Of, relating to, or associated with words: a detailed verbal description. (adjective)
• Concerned with words only rather than with content or ideas: a merely verbal distinction. (adjective)
• Consisting of words alone without action: a verbal confrontation. (adjective)
• Expressed in spoken rather than written words; oral: a verbal contract. (adjective)
• Corresponding word for word; literal: a verbal translation. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That is Hamlet's verbal account of it, when he undertakes to reduce his philosophy to rhyme, and gets the player to insert some sixteen of his lines quietly into the court performance: that is his _verbal_ account of it; but _his_ action, too, speaks louder and more eloquently than his words."
• "He communicated what he described as verbal orders from Lee: Early was to march toward Chancellorsville with his entire force, except Pendleton's artillery and one brigade of infantry."
• "It's what we call a verbal taunt,'' Crawford said."