verbal

/ˈvʌrbəl/

/ˈvʌbəl/

If your friend tells you that the speech you just made was really verbal, he means you used too many words, overstated the point, went on too long, were redundant.

Verbal simply means, "having to do with words." If you hit someone that's a physically assault, but if you say nasty things to him, it's a verbal assault. Sometimes we use verbal to mean "spoken instead of written," usually to talk about agreements we've made. A child who is verbal is a child who can speak, and we call someone who's very articulate a verbal person.

Definitions of verbal

1. adjective

   of or relating to or formed from words in general
   “verbal ability”
2. adjective

   relating to or having facility in the use of words
   “a good poet is a verbal artist”

   “a merely verbal writer who sacrifices content to sound”

   “verbal aptitude”

   antonyms:

   numerical

   relating to or having ability to think in or work with numbers
3. adjective

   communicated in the form of words
   “verbal imagery”

   “a verbal protest”

   synonyms:

   communicative, communicatory

   able or tending to communicate
4. adjective

   expressed in spoken words
   “a verbal contract”

   synonyms:

   spoken

   uttered through the medium of speech or characterized by speech; sometimes used in combination
5. adjective

   prolix
   “"you put me to forget a lady's manners by being so verbal"- Shakespeare”

   synonyms:

   prolix

   tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length
6. adjective

   of or relating to or formed from a verb
   “verbal adjectives like `running' in `hot and cold running water'”
7. noun

   a noun or adjective that is formed from a verb
   type of:

   word

   a unit of language that native speakers can identify