The Meaning of Verbatim: What It Is and How To Use It

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Today’s word of the day is verbatim. This article will define the Latin term verbatim and teach you how to use it as both an adjective and an adverb. It will also provide numerous examples of the term verbatim, translations of verbatim, and synonyms and antonyms of verbatim. 

If you have an eidetic memory, you can recite this article verbatim!

What Does Verbatim Mean?

According to Dictionary, the word verbatim means using the exact words, or word for word. The pronunciation of verbatim is vərˈbeɪ tɪm. The word verbatim can be used as an adverb or an adjective.

How Can We Use Verbatim in a Sentence?

We have listed several example sentences containing the word verbatim below. The word verbatim can either be an adjective or an adverb. An adverb describes a verb, and an adjective describes a noun. 

See if you can determine if the word verbatim is an adjective or an adverb in each of the below sentences.

Example #1

The woman gave a verbatim account of the creepy man in the bar to the police. Using her account, they helped catch the man who was trying to drug women.

Question: In the above sentence, is the word verbatim an adverb or an adjective?

Answer: In the above sentence, verbatim is an adjective.

Example #2

The school officials had the young girl recite what the bullies who attacked her said verbatim to decide their punishment.

Question: In the above sentence, is the word verbatim an adverb or an adjective?

Answer: In the above sentence, verbatim is an adverb.

Example #3

The judge read over the verbatim report of the 9-1-1 call to make a decision about the case.

Question: In the above sentence, is the word verbatim an adverb or an adjective?

Answer: In the above sentence, verbatim is an adjective.

Example #4

The prodigal young musician could sing any song back to you verbatim after only hearing it once.

Question: In the above sentence, is the word verbatim an adverb or an adjective?

Answer: In the above sentence, verbatim is an adverb.

Example #5

The teacher read the verbatim transcript of the fight between the two students.

Question: In the above sentence, is the word verbatim an adverb or an adjective?

Answer: In the above sentence, verbatim is an adjective.

Example #6

The cook repeated the orders back to the waitress verbatim to ensure she had heard her properly.

Question: In the above sentence, is the word verbatim an adverb or an adjective?

Answer: In the above sentence, verbatim is an adverb.

What Is the Etymology of Verbatim?

Verbatim is a Latin word that entered English usage between 1475 and 1485. This term comes from the Medieval Latin verbātim, from the Latin verbum word, and the Latin verb. There are a lot of words in English that come directly from Latin, like verbatim! 

What Are Translations of Verbatim?

Verbatim is a single word in American English, but in other languages, it might be several words or a phrase. Even though the word verbatim is Latin, not all languages around the world are Latin in origin. 

Below, you will find numerous translations of the word verbatim from Nice Translator.

  • Dutch: letterlijk
  • Turkish: sözlü
  • Chinese (PRC): 逐字
  • Croatian: doslovno
  • Italian: verbatim
  • Gujarati: શાબ્દિક
  • Lithuanian: Žodžiu
  • Basque: Gerbehera
  • Latvian: vārdos
  • Polish: dosłownie
  • Swedish: ord för ord
  • Slovak: doslova
  • Slovenian: dobesedno
  • Thai: คำต่อคำ
  • Hebrew: מִלָה בְּמִלָה
  • Bengali: ভারব্যাটিম
  • Icelandic: orðrétt
  • Catalan: verbatim
  • Filipino: Verbatim
  • Serbian: дослован
  • Romanian: Verbatim
  • Hindi: प्रतिशब्द
  • Malay: verbatim
  • Telugu: పదజాలం
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 逐字
  • Finnish: sanatarkasti
  • Portuguese (Brazil): literalmente
  • Ukrainian: дослівно
  • Greek: κατά λέξει
  • Portuguese (Portugal): literalmente
  • Kannada: ಶಬ್ದ
  • Arabic: حرفي
  • Marathi: शब्दशः
  • Czech: doslovně
  • Danish: verbatim
  • Russian: дословно
  • Norwegian: ordrett
  • Vietnamese: nguyên văn
  • Japanese: 逐語的
  • Malayalam: പദാനുപയോഗിച്ച്
  • Hungarian: szó szerint
  • Swahili: kitenzi
  • Urdu: زبانی
  • Tamil: சொற்களஞ்சியம்
  • Estonian: sõnasõnaline
  • Welsh: cherbatim
  • Spanish: literal
  • Indonesian: kata demi kata
  • French: textuellement
  • Amharic: ersatimim
  • Bulgarian: дословно
  • German: wörtlich
  • Korean: 구두

What Are Synonyms of Verbatim?

There are numerous words that you could use in place of the term verbatim. Verbatim is a Latin phrase that many people might not be familiar with. 

In place of the term verbatim, you can use a synonym from the below word list from Power Thesaurus.

  • absolutely
  • according to the letter
  • accurate
  • accurately
  • authentic
  • by heart
  • close
  • closely
  • direct
  • directly
  • direst
  • exact
  • exactly
  • explicit
  • faithful
  • faithfully
  • faultlessly
  • from memory
  • good
  • in the same words
  • letter
  • letter for letter
  • line for line
  • literal
  • literal-minded
  • literally
  • literatim
  • off pat
  • perfectly
  • precise
  • precisely
  • sic
  • strict
  • strictly
  • textual
  • the letter
  • unerringly
  • verbal
  • verbally
  • verbatim et litteratim
  • word by word
  • word for word
  • word perfect

What Are Antonyms of Verbatim?

If something is not said verbatim, it might be said in an imprecise or improper way. To learn all about all of the opposites of verbatim, you can reference the below list from Power Thesaurus.

  • broadly
  • broadly defined
  • broadly speaking
  • different
  • dissimilar
  • divergent
  • divert
  • erroneously
  • falsely
  • faultily
  • fictitious
  • from a broader perspective
  • from a wider perspective
  • generally speaking
  • imprecise
  • imprecisely
  • improperly
  • in a broad manner
  • in a broad meaning
  • in a broad sense
  • in a broader sense
  • in a general manner
  • in a general meaning
  • in a general sense
  • in a general way
  • in a global sense
  • inaccurately
  • inexact

Conclusion

The word verbatim (vɜːˈbeɪtɪm, adv./adj.) means word for word or exactly as stated. Verbatim is a Latin word. Many words in the English language come from the original Latin, like carpe diem or ad hominem. Can you think of any other Latin words that we use in English?

Sources:

Verbatim Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com English Dictionary

Verbatim | Nice Translator  

Verbatim synonyms – 287 Words and Phrases for Verbatim | Power Thesaurus 

Verbatim antonyms – 126 Opposites of Verbatim | Power Thesaurus