Active Verbs for Discussing Ideas
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Active verbs are important components of any academic writing! Just as in other forms of writing, they work as engines, driving the action of your sentences in many potentially vivid, clear, and colorful ways.
Instead of opting for bland, unspecific expressions ("says," "writes about," "believes," "states") consider using more vivid or nuanced verbs such as "argues," "insists," "explains," "emphasizes," "challenges," "agrees," etc. The list below offers dozens of such verbs that will help you communicate your ideas and the ideas of others more clearly, expressively, and powerfully.
| Action Verbs A-C | Action Verbs D-H | Action Verbs I-Q | Action Verbs R-Z |
|---|---|---|---|
| accepts | declares | identifies | ratifies |
| acknowledges | defends | illuminates | rationalizes |
| adds | defies | implies | reads |
| admires | demands | infers | reconciles |
| affirms | denies | informs | reconsiders |
| allows that | describes | initiates | refutes |
| analyzes | determines | insinuates | regards |
| announces | diminishes | insists | rejects |
| answers | disagrees | interprets | relinquishes |
| argues | discusses | intimates | reminds |
| assaults | disputes | judges | repudiates |
| assembles | disregards | lists | resolves |
| asserts | distinguishes | maintains | responds |
| assists | emphasizes | marshals | retorts |
| buttresses | endorses | narrates | reveals |
| categorizes | enumerates | negates | reviews |
| cautions | exaggerates | observes | seeks |
| challenges | experiences | outlines | sees |
| claims | experiments | parses | shares |
| clarifies | explains | perceives | shifts |
| compares | exposes | persists | shows |
| complicates | facilitates | persuades | simplifies |
| concludes | formulates | pleads | states (but don't overuse) |
| condemns | grants | points out | stresses |
| confirms | guides | postulates | substitutes |
| conflates | handles | praises | suggests |
| confronts | hesitates | proposes | summarizes |
| confuses | highlights | protects | supplements |
| considers | hints | provides | supplies |
| contradicts | hypothesizes | qualifies | supports |
| contrasts | synthesizes | ||
| convinces | tests | ||
| criticizes | toys with | ||
| critiques | treats | ||
| uncovers | |||
| undermines | |||
| urges | |||
| verifies | |||
| warns |
- "mentions," unless you mean "refer to something briefly and without going into detail."*
- "notion" as a synonym for "idea" implies "impulsive," "whimsical," not well considered.*
Adapted from a list by Cinthia Gannett by Doug Kirshen and Robert B. Cochran, Brandeis University Writing Program, 2020.