Lexical verb

The term lexical verb is used in grammatical analysis. It refers to thos verbs - the vast majority - that carry meaning, as opposed to those like modal verbs which modify the meanings, or tenses or moods, etc, of the verb phrase whose principal meaning is carried by the lexical verb. For example, in the verb phrase '[I] have kicked [the ball]', the lexical verb is 'kicked', which labels the action: 'have' is the primary verb which conveys the tense of the phrase.