non-verbal

non-ver·bal
UK/ˌnɒnˈvɜː.bl̩/US/ˌnɑnˈvɝ.bl̩/

adjective

In a form other than written or spoken words, such as gestures, facial expressions or body language.

Opposite

Meanings

adjectivenon-verbal (not comparable)

alternative nonverbal

  1. not comparableIn a form other than written or spoken words, such as gestures, facial expressions or body language.
  2. not comparableraregrammarOf or relating to a word that belongs to any part of speech other than that of verbs.

    Negative prefix in Russian is a distinctive feature of nonverbal parts of speech, namesly, nouns (even those that do not denote situations, e.g. 3a), adjectives (3b), and adverbs (3c): […]

    2009, Anna Pazelskaya, “Three Kinds of Event Nominal Negation in Russian”, in Peter Bosch, David Gabelaia, Jérôme Lang, editors, Logic, Language, and Computation: 7th International Tbilisi Symposium, Springer, →ISBN, page 25
    1 more example

    In the Moroccan dialect of Meknès, verbal negation is by means of the circumfix ma...-š, as in (15), while nonverbal negation is primarily by means of invariable ma-ši before the nonverbal predicate, as in (16).

    1991, Bernard Comrie, “On the Importance of Arabic to General Linguistic Theory”, in Bernard Comrie, Mushira Eid, editors, Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics III: Papers from the Third Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 15
  3. not comparablemedicineUnable to speak.
nounnon-verbal (plural non-verbals)

plural non-verbals · alternative nonverbal

  1. A sound, gesture, etc. that is not a word.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

Origin

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 非言语的
  • 非言语的other than written or spoken words
Czech mimoslovní, neverbální
  • mimoslovníother than written or spoken words
  • neverbálníother than written or spoken words
Dutch non-verbaal
  • non-verbaalother than written or spoken words
Finnish sanaton
  • sanatonother than written or spoken words
French non-verbal
  • non-verbalother than written or spoken words
German nonverbal
  • nonverbalother than written or spoken words
Hungarian nonverbális
  • nonverbálisother than written or spoken words
Polish niewerbalny
  • niewerbalnyother than written or spoken words
Romanian neverbal
  • neverbalother than written or spoken words
Russian неслове́сный, неверба́льный
  • неслове́сный (neslovésnyj)other than written or spoken words
  • неверба́льный (neverbálʹnyj)other than written or spoken words
Swedish icke-verbal
  • icke-verbalother than written or spoken words
Ukrainian безслі́вний, неверба́льний
  • безслі́вний (bezslívnyj)other than written or spoken words
  • неверба́льний (neverbálʹnyj)other than written or spoken words
Welsh aneiriol
  • aneiriolother than written or spoken words

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with non-verbal

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

non-verbal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-verbal

MLA

“non-verbal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-verbal. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “non-verbal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-verbal.

Source: non-verbal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.