action verb
noun
grammar
: a verb that expresses action
"Drive" in "We often drive past their house" and "think" in "Let's think about the problem" are both action verbs.
Examples of action verb in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Don’t obsess over choosing the perfect action verb.
—
Dr. Kyle Elliott, Mpa, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025
So, your calls to action should start with an action verb!
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
Each line of a headline should be able to stand alone as a single thought, meaning any line other than the final one should generally end with a noun or an action verb.
—Sarah Bahr, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2023
And Christiana Figueres, the former U.N. climate secretary who helped forge the 2015 Paris agreement and then started a non-profit called Climate Optimism, sees hope not as a noun but an action verb.
—Seth Borenstein, ajc, 19 Nov. 2022
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Dr. Kyle Elliott, Mpa, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025
So, your calls to action should start with an action verb!
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
Each line of a headline should be able to stand alone as a single thought, meaning any line other than the final one should generally end with a noun or an action verb.
—Sarah Bahr, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2023
And Christiana Figueres, the former U.N. climate secretary who helped forge the 2015 Paris agreement and then started a non-profit called Climate Optimism, sees hope not as a noun but an action verb.
—Seth Borenstein, ajc, 19 Nov. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Action verb.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/action%20verb. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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