What are strong verbs?

Strong verbs carry meaning on their own, so you don't need to prop them up with adverbs. “She sprinted” is sharper than “she ran quickly”; “the boat lurched” beats “the boat moved suddenly.” Precise verbs make writing tighter, more vivid, and more grown-up.

Replacing flat verbs (went, said, looked, got) with precise ones is one of the quickest ways to raise the quality of a piece — and one of the first things a marker notices.