English

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Noun

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Examples
  • Let's do lunch. (light verb)
    Let's lunch. (full verb)
  • They had a read by candlelight.
    They read by candlelight.
  • They took a bath together.
    They bathed together.
  • They took a long vacation
    They vacationed for a long time.

light verb (plural light verbs)

  1. (linguistics) A semantically incomplete verb which qualifies as a predicate only in combination with a predicative complement, usually a noun.
    Synonyms: vector verb, delexical verb, explicator verb, thin verb, empty verb
    Coordinate terms: auxiliary verb, helping verb, full verb, lexical verb, main verb

Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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