A common problem with corporate writing is that it’s full of lazy, meaningless verbs. Utilize, implement, leverage—these words litter our writing and weaken our message.

“We are leveraging our core competencies to meet our customers needs.”

I stopped reading when I saw the word “leveraging.”

The verb is the powerhouse of your sentence. Choose clear, active verbs instead of throwaway ones. I hereby call for a ban on the following verbs from corporate writing, press releases, social media, and websites. Try these alternatives instead.

Instead of ...	Try ...
accompany	go with
ballpark	estimate
commence	begin
consolidate	join
dialogue	talk
disambiguate	clear up
disseminate	give, send
endeavor	try
enumerate	count
facilitate	lead, help
ideate	think
implement	carry out, start
incentivize	motivate
interface	talk
leverage	use, take advantage of
modify	change
operationalize	start, use
optimize	improve
peruse	read
promulgate	issue, publish
regarding	about
renumerate	pay
synergize	work together
utlize	use

Readers, what verbs would you ban?

Laura Hale Brockway is an Austin-based writer and editor. Read more of her work at Impertinent Remarks.

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