Towards Advanced: BBC Masterclass: Using stative verbs in the continuous form www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/towards-advanced/unit-5/session-1 stative [steɪtɪv] (linguistics) (of verbs) describing a state rather than an action. Stative verbs (for example be, seem, understand, like, own) are not usually used in the progressive tenses. dynamic[daɪˈnæmɪk] (linguistics) (of verbs) describing an action rather than a state. Dynamic verbs (for example eat, grow, knock, die) can be used in the progressive tenses.