Nonverbal means not using words. A look, a wave, a shrug, or the way you stand can all be nonverbal. People talk a lot about nonverbal communication: the messages we send with face and body, with our words or instead of words. A nonverbal test might use pictures, not sentences. Some people also say nonverbal about a person who does not speak, or speaks very little. That use is more careful and more specialist — often in talk about autism or disability — and not everyone likes it as a label for a person. In everyday class talk, it is about signals without words, not about who someone is.