24 lazy corporate verbs you need to fire
by Laura Hale Brockway
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?
This article was originally published on Ragan Communication’s PR Daily.
