用字，不是用別的
最寬的一支，直接就是核心：材料是「字」。
relating to words · adjective · C2
Relating to words, or using words rather than pictures, numbers, or the body.
言語的
核心畫面
You can think of it as: this has to do with words — words as the material, as opposed to pictures, numbers, or things written on paper.
這個字在指「跟『字詞』有關的」。想像有人問你「你是用什麼做的？」——verbal 的答案是「用字做的」。所以它總是站…更多收起
這個字在指「跟『字詞』有關的」。想像有人問你「你是用什麼做的？」——verbal 的答案是「用字做的」。所以它總是站在某個對照組的對面：不是用圖、不是用數字、不是用身體動作，而是用語言；或者更窄一點，不是寫在紙上的，而是嘴巴說出來的。要判斷 verbal 在句子裡是哪個意思，最快的方法就是先找出它這次在跟什麼對照。From the word’s history
From Late Latin verbālis, "belonging to a word" (verbum = word) — so at root it simply means "word-ish"; every modern sense is a different contrast drawn against that.
來自晚期拉丁文 verbālis「屬於字的」，字根 verbum 就是「字、話語」。所以它最素樸的意思就是「字的、跟字有關的」；現代英文的各個意思，都是在這個底子上劃出不同的對照線。順帶一提，英文文法術語 verb（動詞）也來自同一個 verbum。
Wiktionary: verbal — from Old French verbal, from Late Latin verbālis ("belonging to a word"), from Latin verbum ("word").
Three branches
說出口，不是寫下來
把對照線換一條：不再是「字 vs 圖」，而是「說的字 vs 寫的字」。
spoken, not written · adjective · C2
Spoken rather than written down, especially about an agreement, a warning, a report, or approval that is not on paper.
口頭的
文法上的動詞
回到拉丁文 verbum 的另一條線：在文法術語裡，「the word」專指動詞（verb），所以 verbal 在這裡不是「話語的」，而是「動詞的」。
relating to a verb · adjective · C2
Relating to a verb, or of a form that comes from a verb.
動詞的
原始詞典資料13 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
verbaladj/ˈvɜː.bəl/
- 1
Of or relating to words.
- 2
Concerned with the words, rather than the substance of a text.
- 3
Consisting of words only.
- We subjoin an engraving […] which will give the reader a far better notion of the structure than any verbal description could convey to the mind.
- It was not a verbal remark, but a proceeding in dumb-show
- 4
Expressly spoken rather than written; oral.
- a verbal contract
- a verbal testimony
- 5
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsDerived from, or having the nature of a verb.
- 6
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsUsed to form a verb.
- 7
Capable of speech.
- How do these language problems affect the behaviour of verbal children?
- 8
Word for word.
- a verbal translation
另外 1 個記錄的用法
- 9
obsoleteAbounding with words; verbose.
- You put me to forget a lady’s manners By being so verbal; and learn now, for all, That I, which know my heart, do here pronounce By th’ very truth of it, I care not for you
verbalnoun/ˈvɜː.bəl/
- 1
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsA verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.
- 2
A spoken confession given to police.
- They were convicted on the evidence of an agent provocateur named Richard Seary, backed up by police verbals from three police officers who gave evidence of six verbals in which the three accused were supposed to have admitted their guilt.
- 3
Talk; speech, especially banter or scolding.
- We'd give him a bit of verbal, out would come the bouncers, chucking their weight about, and it would all end in a right tear-up.
verbalverb/ˈvɜː.bəl/
- 1
To allege (usually falsely) that someone has made an oral admission.
- The problem of 'verballing' is unlikely to disappear, whatever the legal status of the person detained.
- Condren had always claimed that he was assaulted and verballed by police over the murder he had supposedly confessed to committing. Specifically, Condren claimed that he had been subjected to assault and intimidation prior to making a police record of interview, that the record of interview was largely fabricated by police, and that the oral admissions which police claimed he had made prior to the record of interview were also fabricated.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。