ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION VERBS
Advise
Offer an informed opinion or give specialized information to others.
Adapt
Modify or change to fit specific or new situations.
Administer Manage or direct. Generally requires some additional explanation to show specific detail.
See Manage.
Appoint
To set officially, arrange.
Approve
Exercise final and decisive authority, causing action to use money, manpower, materials, or
equipment.
Arrange
To make preparations for, to plan.
Authorize
Approve or commit an act implying subsequent action by others.
Consult
Consider, asking advice or requesting opinion of.
Control
Direct, regulate, or guide the use of money, methods, equipment, and materials. Also, the
process of monitoring activities to ensure conformance with planned results.
Coordinate
Regulate, adjust or direct the related actions of others in order to attain desired results.
Decide
To select a course of action.
Delegate
Entrust to another person tasks or duties which require exercise of some of the authority of
the person originally responsible, as "To delegate an administrative assistant to represent the
department at conferences."
Determine
To fix conclusively, regulate. To decide by choice of alternatives.
Direct
Govern or control work operations by establishing the implementing objectives, practices
and methods.
Enforce To effect or gain by force. To carry out effectively.
Establish
To institute permanently by enactment or agreement.
Execute
Put into effect or carry out methods, plans, etc.
Initiate
Set going or introduce.
Manage
Plan, organize, direct, control, and evaluate operation of an organizational unit, with
responsibility for the output.
Order
Arrange or command to come to a specified place or decision.
Organize
To set up an administrative structure for. To arrange by systematic planning and united
effort.
Plan
To design or plot a scheme or project by means or method devised for doing something to
achieve an end.
Reject
To refuse to accept, consider or submit to.
Require
To ask for by right and authority, request.
Review
Consider or examine facts or results for accuracy, completeness and suitability.
Supervise
Personally oversee or control work performance and conduct of others, where there is
opportunity for control or inspection of work performed.
Train
Teach, demonstrate, or guide others in the performance of assigned work.
PUSH ALONG VERBS
Activate
Set up or formally introduce with necessary personnel or equipment.
Encourage
Give help, inspire or pay patronage to.
Expedite
Accelerate the process or progress of a plan, idea.
Further
Promote or advance.
Implement
Carry out or fulfill by taking action.
Maintain
Keep in satisfactory condition.
Motivate
Provide incentive or drive.
STOP VERBS
Check
To proof or review for errors.
Delete
Eliminate or wipe out.
Prevent Keep from happening or holding back.
Return
Go back in thought or action. Give an official account to a superior.
Stop
Keep from carrying out a proposed action.
HELPER VERBS
Advise
Offer an informed opinion or give specialized information to others.
Aid
Provide with what is useful or necessary for achieving an end.
Cooperate
Act jointly with others. Act or work with others to obtain a mutual benefit.
Counsel
Advise or consult.
Explain Make plain or understandable.
Guide
Direct, supervise, influence or superintend the training of people.
Instruct
Teach, demonstrate, or by other methods impart knowledge to others. Direct that a specific
activity be performed, may include directing how it is to be performed.
Participate
To take part or have a share in a project, group.
Protect
Maintain status or integrity of project, idea.
Serve
Comply with the commands and demands of a boss, group.
Show
Propose or mention an idea as workable or desirable.
Suggest
To seek to influence.
GET AND GIVE VERBS
Accept Give admittance or approval to.
Accumulate
Increase gradually in quantity or number.
Acquire
Come into possession or control of an item or items.
Arrange for
To make preparations for, to plan.
Buy
Acquire possession, ownership or rights to the use of services, items.
Collect
Gather or exact information or materials from a number of persons or sources.
Compile
Put together information or assemble data in a new form.
Deliver
Send or bring a desired object.
Distribute
Deliver or hand out to several or many.
Exchange
Give and receive reciprocally.
Forward
Send goods or information onward.
Furnish
Provide or equip with what is needed.
Gather
Bring together or collect parts of a group.
Get
Obtain or receive.
Give
Grant or yield to another.
Inform
Communicate knowledge to others.
Inquire Ask or search into.
Issue
Make available through distribution.
Keep
Preserve or maintain in a good and orderly condition.
Mail
To send by the postal service.
Notify
Give notice or a report on an occurrence or information.
Obtain
Gain or possess.
Pick up
To take hold of and lift up; to gather together.
Procure
Get possession or obtain by particular care and effort.
Provide
To supply support to meet a need, make available.
Pull Demand or obtain advantage by use of exertion or influence.
Purchase
Gain or acquire by labor, money.
Recall
Call back or cancel.
Receive
Come into possession of or acquire an item, idea.
Recruit
Increase numbers of a group or bring in new members.
Render
Deliver or hand down.
Report
Give an account or make a written summary or statement.
Secure
Put beyond hazard or receive lasting control.
Sell
Give up property in exchange for money.
Send
Deliver or dispatch as means of communication or delivery.
Solicit
To make a petition or request for services, money.
Submit
Yield or surrender to authority.
Supply
Make materials available for use.
Take
Get or seize into possession.
Transfer
Pass over from one person to another.
Withdraw
Back away or remove.
CREATIVE VERBS
Create
Produce through imaginative skill.
Design Create or fashion a plan or idea.
Develop
Disclose, discover, perfect, or unfold a plan or idea, in detail, gradually. Implies study
and/or experiment unless otherwise stated. When used as "to develop subordinates", see
Train.
Devise
Form in the mind by combinations of ideas, new applications of principles, or new
arrangement of parts.
Establish
To institute permanently by enactment or agreement.
Estimate
Forecast future quantities, values, sizes, extents, etc., either on the basis of judgment or
calculations. Frequently, estimating is shared with others, in which case it is more precise
to use "estimate" as a noun, and to state the job's function in relation thereto, i.e., originates,
analyzes, endorses, approves, etc.
Forecast
Predict future events based on specified assumptions.
Formulate
Put into a systemized expression or statement.
Initiate
Set going or introduce.
Install
To set up for use.
Originate
Begin or initiate.
Plan
To design or plot a scheme or project by means or method devised for doing something to
achieve an end.
Project
Plan, figure, or estimate for the future.
Schedule
Appoint a fixed time.
APPRAISE AND STUDY VERBS
Analyze
Identify the elements of a whole and critically examine and relate these component parts
separately and/or in relation to the whole.
Appraise
Judge as to quality; compare critically with established standards.
Ascertain
Find out or learn with certainty.
Check
To proof or review for errors.
Compare
To examine characteristics to discover similarities or differences.
Consider To observe or think about with regard to taking some action.
Criticize
To evaluate and judge merits or faults.
Develop
Disclose, discover, perfect, or unfold a plan or idea, in detail, gradually. Implies study
and/or experiment unless otherwise stated. When used as "to develop subordinates", see
Train.
Evaluate
Appraise, to determine value, condition, significance or worth.
Examine
Investigate in order to determine progress, fitness or knowledge.
Forecast
Predict future events based on specified assumptions.
Identify
The act of proving identity.
Inspect
Examine materials, equipment, reports, work, etc., to determine quality, suitability for use,
etc.
Interpret
Explain to others (orally or in writing) the meaning or significance of something.
Interview
Obtain information through questioning.
Investigate
Uncover facts by systematically finding them, conducting a search, and examining various
sources.
Measure
Control or regulate by a standard or in measured amounts.
Plan
To design or plot a scheme or project by means or method devised for doing something to
achieve an end.
Rate Estimate or determine the relative value, rank, or amount of an item.
Research
Specific inquiry involving prolonged and critical investigation, having for its aim the study
of new facts and their interpretation, the revision of accepted conclusions or theories that
may be affected by newly discovered factors, or the practical application of such new or
revised conclusions.
Resolve
Deal with a problem, dilemma successfully.
Review
Consider or examine facts or results for accuracy, completeness and suitability.
Solve
Find a solution, answer, or explanation for a question or problem.
Study
Apply thought to any subject of investigation in order to arrive at the most suitable
conclusion.
Summarize
To tell and reduce a story, idea.
Survey
Examine a condition, situation or value.
Test Assign a value or evaluate an item by a given test.
Weigh
Merit consideration as to importance.
CONTROL VERBS
Allocate
Assign or apportion for a specific purpose or to a particular person.
Audit
Perform a formal examination into a company’s formal accounts.
Check
To proof or review for errors.
Conserve
Slow or block the progress of something
Control
Direct, regulate, or guide the use of money, methods, equipment, and materials. Also, the
process of monitoring activities to ensure conformance with planned results.
Edit
Alter, adapt or refine a written text, concept, or idea.
Enforce To effect or gain by force. To carry out effectively.
Ensure
Make sure, certain, or safe.
Guarantee
Undertake to answer for debt and default or promise security.
Inspect
Examine materials, equipment, reports, work, etc., to determine quality, suitability for use,
etc.
Regulate Fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate.
Restrict
Place under restriction as to use or distribution.
Review
Consider or examine facts or results for accuracy, completeness and suitability.
Verify
Confirm or substantiate by oath, law, or other documentation.
