nonverbal

N1O1N1V4E1R1B3A1L1

A form of non-verbal — In a form other than written or spoken words, such as gestures, facial expressions or body language.

Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

adjectivenonverbal (not comparable)
  1. alternativenot comparableAlternative form of non-verbal.

    Negative prefix in Russian is a distinctive feature of nonverbal parts of speech, namely, 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
nounnonverbal (plural nonverbals)

plural nonverbals

  1. alternativeAlternative form of non-verbal.

    So obviously when we think about nonverbal behavior, or body language -- but we call it nonverbals as social scientists -- it's language, so we think about communication. When we think about communication, we think about interactions.

    2012 June 28, Amy Cuddy, “Your body language may shape who you are”, in TED

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivebeing other than verbal communication

adjectivelacking verbal skill

adjectiveinvolving little use of language

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Germanic*ne
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  5. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*nainaz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*nain
  8. Old Englishnān
  9. Middle Englishnon
  10. Old Englishnān
  11. Old Englishnān-
  12. Middle Englishnon-
  13. Englishnon-
  14. Englishverbal
  15. Englishnonverbal

From non- + verbal.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: nonverbal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.