Delexical

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    That has little or no meaning by itself.

    "The verb "take" is delexical in the phrase "take a shower"."

Example

More examples

"The verb "take" is delexical in the phrase "take a shower"."

Etymology

From de- + lexical.

Related phrases

light verb

More for "delexical"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.