Define the word adjective

An adjective (abbreviated adj.) is a word that describes a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.

Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the main parts of speech of the English language, although historically they were classed together with nouns.^[1] Nowadays, certain words that usually had been classified as adjectives, including the, this, my, etc., typically are classed separately, as determiners.

Here are some examples:

• That’s a funny idea. (attributive)
• That idea is funny. (predicative)
• Tell me something funny. (postpositive)
• The good, the bad, and the funny. (substantive)

Etymology[edit]

Adjective comes from Latin nōmen adjectīvum,^[2] a calque of Ancient Greek: ἐπίθετον ὄνομα, romanized: epítheton ónoma, lit. ‘additional noun’ (whence also English epithet).^[3][4] In the grammatical tradition of Latin and Greek, because adjectives were inflected for gender, number, and case like nouns (a process called declension), they were considered a type of noun. The words that are today typically called nouns were then called substantive nouns (nōmen substantīvum).^[5] The terms noun substantive and noun adjective were formerly used in English but are now obsolete.^[1]

Types of use[edit]

Depending on the language, an adjective can precede a corresponding noun on a prepositive basis or it can follow a corresponding noun on a postpositive basis. Structural, contextual, and style considerations can impinge on the pre-or post-position of an adjective in a given instance of its occurrence. In English, occurrences of adjectives generally can be classified into one of three categories:

1. Prepositive adjectives, which are also known as «attributive adjectives», occur on an antecedent basis within a noun phrase.^[6] For example: «I put my happy kids into the car», wherein happy occurs on an antecedent basis within the my happy kids noun phrase, and therefore functions in a prepositive adjective.
2. Postpositive adjectives can occur: (a) immediately subsequent to a noun within a noun phrase, e.g. «The only room available cost twice what we expected»; (b) as linked via a copula or other linking mechanism subsequent to a corresponding noun or pronoun; for example: «My kids are happy«, wherein happy is a predicate adjective^[6] (see also: Predicative expression, Subject complement); or (c) as an appositive adjective within a noun phrase, e.g. «My kids, [who are] happy to go for a drive, are in the back seat.»
3. Nominalized adjectives, which function as nouns. One way this happens is by eliding a noun from an adjective-noun noun phrase, whose remnant thus is a nominalization. In the sentence, «I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy», happy is a nominalized adjective, short for «happy one» or «happy book». Another way this happens is in phrases like «out with the old, in with the new», where «the old» means «that which is old» or «all that is old», and similarly with «the new». In such cases, the adjective may function as a mass noun (as in the preceding example). In English, it may also function as a plural count noun denoting a collective group, as in «The meek shall inherit the Earth», where «the meek» means «those who are meek» or «all who are meek».

Distribution[edit]

Adjectives feature as a part of speech (word class) in most languages. In some languages, the words that serve the semantic function of adjectives are categorized together with some other class, such as nouns or verbs. In the phrase «a Ford car», «Ford» is unquestionably a noun but its function is adjectival: to modify «car». In some languages adjectives can function as nouns: for example, the Spanish phrase «un rojo» means «a red [one]».

As for «confusion» with verbs, rather than an adjective meaning «big», a language might have a verb that means «to be big» and could then use an attributive verb construction analogous to «big-being house» to express what in English is called a «big house». Such an analysis is possible for the grammar of Standard Chinese, for example.

Different languages do not use adjectives in exactly the same situations. For example, where English uses «to be hungry» (hungry being an adjective), Dutch, French, and Spanish use «honger hebben«, «avoir faim«, and «tener hambre» respectively (literally «to have hunger», the words for «hunger» being nouns). Similarly, where Hebrew uses the adjective זקוק‎ (zaqūq, roughly «in need of»), English uses the verb «to need».

In languages that have adjectives as a word class, it is usually an open class; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation. However, Bantu languages are well known for having only a small closed class of adjectives, and new adjectives are not easily derived. Similarly, native Japanese adjectives (i-adjectives) are considered a closed class (as are native verbs), although nouns (an open class) may be used in the genitive to convey some adjectival meanings, and there is also the separate open class of adjectival nouns (na-adjectives).

Adverbs[edit]

Many languages (including English) distinguish between adjectives, which qualify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs, which mainly modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Not all languages make this exact distinction; many (including English) have words that can function as either. For example, in English, fast is an adjective in «a fast car» (where it qualifies the noun car) but an adverb in «he drove fast» (where it modifies the verb drove).

In Dutch and German, adjectives and adverbs are usually identical in form and many grammarians do not make the distinction, but patterns of inflection can suggest a difference:

Eine kluge neue Idee.

A clever new idea.

Eine klug ausgereifte Idee.

A cleverly developed idea.

A German word like klug («clever(ly)») takes endings when used as an attributive adjective but not when used adverbially. (It also takes no endings when used as a predicative adjective: er ist klug, «he is clever».) Whether these are distinct parts of speech or distinct usages of the same part of speech is a question of analysis. It can be noted that, while German linguistic terminology distinguishes adverbiale from adjektivische Formen, German refers to both as Eigenschaftswörter («property words»).

Determiners[edit]

Linguists today distinguish determiners from adjectives, considering them to be two separate parts of speech (or lexical categories). Determiners formerly were considered to be adjectives in some of their uses.^[a] Determiners function neither as nouns nor pronouns but instead characterize a nominal element within a particular context. They generally do this by indicating definiteness (a vs. the), quantity (one vs. some vs. many), or another such property.

Adjective phrases[edit]

An adjective acts as the head of an adjective phrase or adjectival phrase (AP). In the simplest case, an adjective phrase consists solely of the adjective; more complex adjective phrases may contain one or more adverbs modifying the adjective («very strong»), or one or more complements (such as «worth several dollars«, «full of toys«, or «eager to please«). In English, attributive adjective phrases that include complements typically follow the noun that they qualify («an evildoer devoid of redeeming qualities«).

Other modifiers of nouns[edit]

In many languages (including English) it is possible for nouns to modify other nouns. Unlike adjectives, nouns acting as modifiers (called attributive nouns or noun adjuncts) usually are not predicative; a beautiful park is beautiful, but a car park is not «car». The modifier often indicates origin («Virginia reel»), purpose («work clothes»), semantic patient («man eater») or semantic subject («child actor»); however, it may generally indicate almost any semantic relationship. It is also common for adjectives to be derived from nouns, as in boyish, birdlike, behavioral (behavioural), famous, manly, angelic, and so on.

In Australian Aboriginal languages, the distinction between adjectives and nouns is typically thought weak, and many of the languages only use nouns—or nouns with a limited set of adjective-deriving affixes—to modify other nouns. In languages that have a subtle adjective-noun distinction, one way to tell them apart is that a modifying adjective can come to stand in for an entire elided noun phrase, while a modifying noun cannot. For example, in Bardi, the adjective moorrooloo ‘little’ in the phrase moorrooloo baawa ‘little child’ can stand on its own to mean ‘the little one,’ while the attributive noun aamba ‘man’ in the phrase aamba baawa ‘male child’ cannot stand for the whole phrase to mean ‘the male one.’^[7] In other languages, like Warlpiri, nouns and adjectives are lumped together beneath the nominal umbrella because of their shared syntactic distribution as arguments of predicates. The only thing distinguishing them is that some nominals seem to semantically denote entities (typically nouns in English) and some nominals seem to denote attributes (typically adjectives in English).^[8]

Many languages have participle forms that can act as noun modifiers either alone or as the head of a phrase. Sometimes participles develop into functional usage as adjectives. Examples in English include relieved (the past participle of relieve), used as an adjective in passive voice constructs such as «I am so relieved to see you». Other examples include spoken (the past participle of speak) and going (the present participle of go), which function as attribute adjectives in such phrases as «the spoken word» and «the going rate».

Other constructs that often modify nouns include prepositional phrases (as in «a rebel without a cause«), relative clauses (as in «the man who wasn’t there«), and infinitive phrases (as in «a cake to die for«). Some nouns can also take complements such as content clauses (as in «the idea that I would do that«), but these are not commonly considered modifiers. For more information about possible modifiers and dependents of nouns, see Components of noun phrases.

Order[edit]

In many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific order. In general, the adjective order in English can be summarised as: opinion, size, age or shape, colour, origin, material, purpose.^[9][10][11] Other language authorities, like the Cambridge Dictionary, state that shape precedes rather than follows age.^[9][12][13]

Determiners and postdeterminers—articles, numerals, and other limiters (e.g. three blind mice)—come before attributive adjectives in English. Although certain combinations of determiners can appear before a noun, they are far more circumscribed than adjectives in their use—typically, only a single determiner would appear before a noun or noun phrase (including any attributive adjectives).

1. Opinion – limiter adjectives (e.g. a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives of subjective measure (e.g. beautiful, interesting) or value (e.g. good, bad, costly)
2. Size – adjectives denoting physical size (e.g. tiny, big, extensive)
3. Shape or physical quality – adjectives describing more detailed physical attributes than overall size (e.g. round, sharp, swollen, thin)
4. Age – adjectives denoting age (e.g. young, old, new, ancient, six-year-old)
5. Colour – adjectives denoting colour or pattern (e.g. white, black, pale, spotted)
6. Origin – denominal adjectives denoting source (e.g. Japanese, volcanic, extraterrestrial)
7. Material – denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woollen, metallic, wooden)
8. Qualifier/purpose – final limiter, which sometimes forms part of the (compound) noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover)

This means that, in English, adjectives pertaining to size precede adjectives pertaining to age («little old», not «old little»), which in turn generally precede adjectives pertaining to colour («old white», not «white old»). So, one would say «One (quantity) nice (opinion) little (size) old (age) round (shape) [or round old] white (colour) brick (material) house.» When several adjectives of the same type are used together, they are ordered from general to specific, like «lovely intelligent person» or «old medieval castle».^[9]

This order may be more rigid in some languages than others; in some, like Spanish, it may only be a default (unmarked) word order, with other orders being permissible. Other languages, such as Tagalog, follow their adjectival orders as rigidly as English.

The normal adjectival order of English may be overridden in certain circumstances, especially when one adjective is being fronted. For example, the usual order of adjectives in English would result in the phrase «the bad big wolf» (opinion before size), but instead, the usual phrase is «the big bad wolf».

Owing partially to borrowings from French, English has some adjectives that follow the noun as postmodifiers, called postpositive adjectives, as in time immemorial and attorney general. Adjectives may even change meaning depending on whether they precede or follow, as in proper: They live in a proper town (a real town, not a village) vs. They live in the town proper (in the town itself, not in the suburbs). All adjectives can follow nouns in certain constructions, such as tell me something new.

Comparison (degrees)[edit]

In many languages, some adjectives are comparable and the measure of comparison is called degree. For example, a person may be «polite», but another person may be «more polite», and a third person may be the «most polite» of the three. The word «more» here modifies the adjective «polite» to indicate a comparison is being made, and «most» modifies the adjective to indicate an absolute comparison (a superlative).

Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared, different means are used to indicate comparison. Some languages do not distinguish between comparative and superlative forms. Other languages allow adjectives to be compared but do not have a special comparative form of the adjective. In such cases, as in some Australian Aboriginal languages, case-marking, such as the ablative case may be used to indicate one entity has more of an adjectival quality than (i.e. from—hence ABL) another. Take the following example in Bardi:^[7]

In English, many adjectives can be inflected to comparative and superlative forms by taking the suffixes «-er» and «-est» (sometimes requiring additional letters before the suffix; see forms for far below), respectively:

«great», «greater», «greatest»

«deep», «deeper», «deepest»

Some adjectives are irregular in this sense:

«good», «better», «best»

«bad», «worse», «worst»

«many», «more», «most» (sometimes regarded as an adverb or determiner)

«little», «less», «least»

Some adjectives can have both regular and irregular variations:

«old», «older», «oldest»

«far», «farther», «farthest»

also

«old», «elder», «eldest»

«far», «further», «furthest»

Another way to convey comparison is by incorporating the words «more» and «most». There is no simple rule to decide which means is correct for any given adjective, however. The general tendency is for simpler adjectives and those from Anglo-Saxon to take the suffixes, while longer adjectives and those from French, Latin, or Greek do not—but sometimes sound of the word is the deciding factor.

Many adjectives do not naturally lend themselves to comparison. For example, some English speakers would argue that it does not make sense to say that one thing is «more ultimate» than another, or that something is «most ultimate», since the word «ultimate» is already absolute in its semantics. Such adjectives are called non-comparable or absolute. Nevertheless, native speakers will frequently play with the raised forms of adjectives of this sort. Although «pregnant» is logically non-comparable (either one is pregnant or not), one may hear a sentence like «She looks more and more pregnant each day». Likewise «extinct» and «equal» appear to be non-comparable, but one might say that a language about which nothing is known is «more extinct» than a well-documented language with surviving literature but no speakers, while George Orwell wrote, «All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others». These cases may be viewed as evidence that the base forms of these adjectives are not as absolute in their semantics as is usually thought.

Comparative and superlative forms are also occasionally used for other purposes than comparison. In English comparatives can be used to suggest that a statement is only tentative or tendential: one might say «John is more the shy-and-retiring type,» where the comparative «more» is not really comparing him with other people or with other impressions of him, but rather, could be substituting for «on the whole» or «more so than not». In Italian, superlatives are frequently used to put strong emphasis on an adjective: bellissimo means «most beautiful», but is in fact more commonly heard in the sense «extremely beautiful».

Restrictiveness[edit]

Attributive adjectives and other noun modifiers may be used either restrictively (helping to identify the noun’s referent, hence «restricting» its reference) or non-restrictively (helping to describe a noun). For example:

He was a lazy sort, who would avoid a difficult task and fill his working hours with easy ones.

Here «difficult» is restrictive – it tells which tasks he avoids, distinguishing these from the easy ones: «Only those tasks that are difficult».

She had the job of sorting out the mess left by her predecessor, and she performed this difficult task with great acumen.

Here «difficult» is non-restrictive – it is already known which task it was, but the adjective describes it more fully: «The aforementioned task, which (by the way) is difficult»

In some languages, such as Spanish, restrictiveness is consistently marked; for example, in Spanish la tarea difícil means «the difficult task» in the sense of «the task that is difficult» (restrictive), whereas la difícil tarea means «the difficult task» in the sense of «the task, which is difficult» (non-restrictive). In English, restrictiveness is not marked on adjectives but is marked on relative clauses (the difference between «the man who recognized me was there» and «the man, who recognized me, was there» being one of restrictiveness).

Agreement[edit]

In some languages, adjectives alter their form to reflect the gender, case and number of the noun that they describe. This is called agreement or concord. Usually it takes the form of inflections at the end of the word, as in Latin:

puella bona		(good girl, feminine singular nominative)
puellam bonam	(good girl, feminine singular accusative/object case)
puer bonus	(good boy, masculine singular nominative)
pueri boni	(good boys, masculine plural nominative)

In Celtic languages, however, initial consonant lenition marks the adjective with a feminine singular noun, as in Irish:

buachaill maith		(good boy, masculine)
girseach mhaith	(good girl, feminine)

Here, a distinction may be made between attributive and predicative usage. In English, adjectives never agree, whereas in French, they always agree. In German, they agree only when they are used attributively, and in Hungarian, they agree only when they are used predicatively:

The good (Ø) boys.		The boys are good (Ø).
Les bons garçons.	Les garçons sont bons.
Die braven Jungen.	Die Jungen sind brav (Ø).
A jó (Ø) fiúk.	A fiúk jók.

Semantics[edit]

This section needs expansion with: other aspects of adjective semantics. You can help by adding to it. (talk) (August 2022)

Semanticist Barbara Partee classifies adjectives semantically as intersective, subsective, or nonsubsective, with nonsubsective adjectives being plain nonsubsective or privative.^[14]

• An adjective is intersective if and only if the extension of its combination with a noun is equal to the intersection of its extension and that of the noun its modifying. For example, the adjective carnivorous is intersective, given the extension of carnivorous mammal is the intersection of the extensions of carnivorous and mammal (i.e., the set of all mammals who are carnivorous).
• An adjective is subsective if and only if the extension of its combination with a noun is a subset of the extension of the noun. For example, the extension of skillful surgeon is a subset of the extension of surgeon, but it is not the intersection of that and the extension of skillful, as that would include (for example) incompetent surgeons who are skilled violinists. All subsective adjectives are intersective, but the term ‘subsective’ is sometimes used to refer to only those subsective adjectives which are not intersective.
• An adjective is privative if and only if the extension of its combination with a noun is disjoint from the extension of the noun. For example, fake is privative because a fake cat is not a cat.
• A plain nonsubsective adjective is an adjective that is not subsective or privative. For example, the word possible is this kind of adjective, as the extension of possible murderer overlaps with, but is not included in the extension of murderer (as some, but not all, possible murderers are murderers).

See also[edit]

• Attributive verb
• Flat adverb
• Grammatical modifier
• Intersective modifier
• List of eponymous adjectives in English
• Noun adjunct
• Part of speech
• Predication (philosophy)
• Privative adjective
• Proper adjective
• Subsective modifier

Explanatory notes[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Dixon, R. M. W. (1977). «Where Have All the Adjectives Gone?». Studies in Language. 1: 19–80. doi:10.1075/sl.1.1.04dix.
• Dixon, R. M. W. (1993). R. E. Asher (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (1st ed.). Pergamon Press Inc. pp. 29–35. ISBN 0-08-035943-4.
• Dixon, R. M. W. (1999). «Adjectives». In K. Brown & T. Miller (eds.), Concise Encyclopedia of Grammatical Categories. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-08-043164-X. pp. 1–8.
• Rießler, Michael (2016). Adjective Attribution. Language Science Press. ISBN 9783944675657.
• Warren, Beatrice (1984). Classifying adjectives. Gothenburg studies in English No. 56. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ISBN 91-7346-133-4.
• Wierzbicka, Anna (1986). «What’s in a Noun? (Or: How Do Nouns Differ in Meaning from Adjectives?)». Studies in Language. 10 (2): 353–389. doi:10.1075/sl.10.2.05wie.

External links[edit]

• List of English collateral adjectives at Wiktionary

Adjectives describe or modify—that is, they limit or restrict the meaning of—nouns and pronouns. They may name qualities of all kinds: huge, red, angry, tremendous, unique, rare, etc.

An adjective usually comes right before a noun: «a red dress,» «fifteen people.» When an adjective follows a linking verb such as be or seem, it is called a predicate adjective: «That building is huge,» «The workers seem happy.» Most adjectives can be used as predicate adjectives, although some are always used before a noun. Similarly, a few adjectives can only be used as predicate adjectives and are never used before a noun.

Some adjectives describe qualities that can exist in different amounts or degrees. To do this, the adjective will either change in form (usually by adding -er or -est) or will be used with words like more, most, very, slightly, etc.: «the older girls,» «the longest day of the year,» «a very strong feeling,» «more expensive than that one.» Other adjectives describe qualities that do not vary—»nuclear energy,» «a medical doctor»—and do not change form.

The four demonstrative adjectives—this, that, these, and those—are identical to the demonstrative pronouns. They are used to distinguish the person or thing being described from others of the same category or class. This and these describe people or things that are nearby, or in the present. That and those are used to describe people or things that are not here, not nearby, or in the past or future. These adjectives, like the definite and indefinite articles (a, an, and the), always come before any other adjectives that modify a noun.

An indefinite adjective describes a whole group or class of people or things, or a person or thing that is not identified or familiar. The most common indefinite adjectives are: all, another, any, both, each, either, enough, every, few, half, least, less, little, many, more, most, much, neither, one (and two, three, etc.), other, several, some, such, whole.

The interrogative adjectives—primarily which, what, and whose—are used to begin questions. They can also be used as interrogative pronouns.

Which horse did you bet on? = Which did you bet on?

What songs did they sing? = What did they sing?

Whose coat is this? = Whose is this?

The possessive adjectives—my, your, his, her, its, our, their—tell you who has, owns, or has experienced something, as in «I admired her candor, «Our cat is 14 years old,» and «They said their trip was wonderful.»

Nouns often function like adjectives. When they do, they are called attributive nouns.

When two or more adjectives are used before a noun, they should be put in proper order. Any article (a, an, the), demonstrative adjective (that, these, etc.), indefinite adjective (another, both, etc.), or possessive adjective (her, our, etc.) always comes first. If there is a number, it comes first or second. True adjectives always come before attributive nouns. The ordering of true adjectives will vary, but the following order is the most common:

opinion word→ size→ age→ shape→ color→ nationality→ material.

Participles are often used like ordinary adjectives. They may come before a noun or after a linking verb. A present participle (an -ing word) describes the person or thing that causes something; for example, a boring conversation is one that bores you. A past participle (usually an -ed word) describes the person or thing who has been affected by something; for example, a bored person is one who has been affected by boredom.

They had just watched an exciting soccer game.

The instructions were confusing.

She’s excited about the trip to North Africa.

Several confused students were asking questions about the test.

The lake was frozen.

Types of Adjective

There are several types of adjective such as: Adjectives of quality, Adjectives of Quantity, Numeral Adjectives, Demonstrative Adjectives, Possessive Adjectives, and Interrogative adjectives.

Let us discuss each type of adjective in more detail.

Adjectives of Quality

Adjectives of quality describe the kind, quality, or degree, of a noun or pronoun. They are also called Descriptive Adjectives.

Examples:

He ate a big mango.

Hassan is an honest man.

The child is foolish.

Arabic language is not hard to learn.

In the last example, the word Arabic is a proper noun. Such adjectives which are formed from proper nouns are called sometimes as Proper Adjectives. They generally come under the category of adjectives of quality.

Adjectives of Quantity

These adjectives tell us about the quantity of a noun. They answer the question: How much?

Common adjectives of quantity are: some, much, no, any, little, enough, great, half, sufficient

Examples:

Take great care of your grandma’s health.

The pay is enough for my expenses.

Half of the papers were checked.

Adjectives of Number | Numeral Adjectives

Adjectives of Number tell us about how many things or people are meant or the order of standing of people or things. These are also called Numeral Adjectives.

There are of three types of adjectives of number (numeral adjective): Definite Numeral Adjectives, Indefinite Numeral Adjectives and Distributive Numeral Adjectives.

1. Definite Numeral Adjectives: These represent an accurate number. Definite numeral adjectives are of further two types: Cardinals and Ordinals.

(a) Cardinals indicate how many. Such as: One, two, three, etc.

Example: I have three pairs of scissors.

(b) Ordinals indicate in which order. Such as: First, second, third, etc.

Example: She was the first one to arrive at the airport.

2. Indefinite Numeral Adjectives: Indefinite Numeral Adjectives do not represent an accurate number. Some of the common indefinite numeral adjectives are:

No, all, few, many, some, several, any, etc.

Examples in sentences:

All the cats are sleeping.

I have taken several different baking lessons.

There are no pedestrians on the street.

3. Distributive Numeral Adjectives: These adjectives refer to a specific or all things or people of a bunch. Some common Distributive Numeral Adjectives are:

Every, each, either, neither

Examples in sentences:

 Each student must take its turn.

Neither proposal is acceptable.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative Adjectives point to a specific person or thing. They answer the question: Which? Some common demonstrative adjectives are:

This, that, these, those, such

Examples:

This is my assignment.

Those are spicy dishes.

Such an attitude will cause him failure.

Interrogative Adjectives

Interrogative adjectives are used to ask questions. When what, whose and which are used with a noun to ask questions, they become interrogative adjectives. Interrogative adjectives are only three and are very easy to remember.

Examples in sentences:

Which way goes to the mall?

What time is it?

Whose duty time is it?

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives denote the ownership of something. Common possessive adjectives are:

My, your, our, its, his, her, their

Examples in sentences:

My daily routine is pretty simple.

Your shoelaces are loose.

Cat is licking its paws.

They are doing their work.

Emphasizing Adjectives

Emphasizing adjectives are used to put emphasis in sentences. Look at the example below.

This is the very book I want.

Sarah saw the robbery with her own eyes.

In the examples above, very and own are added to put additional emphasis.

Exclamatory Adjective

Exclamatory adjective is used to exclaim excitement, fear and other extreme feelings. There is only one word which is usually used to exclaim i.e. what.

Examples of adjective in sentences:

What crap!

What a spectacular view!

What foolishness!

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English adjectif, adjective, from Old French adjectif, from Latin adiectivus, from adiciō + -īvus, from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + iaciō (“throw”). The Latin word adiectivus in turn was a calque of Ancient Greek ἐπιθετικόν (epithetikón, “added”), a derivative of the compound verb ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi), from which also comes epithet.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/, /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɛk.tɪv/, /ˈæd͡ʒ.ək.tɪv/, /ˈæd͡ʒ.ə.tɪv/

Noun[edit]

adjective (plural adjectives)

2. (grammar) A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent.

   The words “big” and “heavy” are English adjectives.
3. (obsolete) A dependent; an accessory.
   • 1648, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge since the Conquest

     it must be an adjective of dain

Synonyms[edit]

• See Thesaurus:adjective

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

adjective (not comparable)

1. (grammar) Adjectival; pertaining to or functioning as an adjective.

   Synonym: adjectival

2. (law) Applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 10, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     The whole English law, substantive and adjective.

   Synonym: procedural

   Antonym: substantive

3. (chemistry, of a dye) Needing the use of a mordant to be made fast to that which is being dyed.

   Antonym: substantive

4. (obsolete, reflected in the chemical sense, but extinct as a general sense) Incapable of independent function.
   • 1899, John Jay Chapman, Emerson and Other Essays, AMS Press (1969) (as reproduced in Project Gutenberg)

     In fact, God is of not so much importance in Himself, but as the end towards which man tends. That irreverent person who said that Browning uses “God” as a pigment made an accurate criticism of his theology. In Browning, God is adjective to man.

   Synonyms: dependent, derivative

   Coordinate terms: adjunct, adjunctive, adjutant

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

adjective (third-person singular simple present adjectives, present participle adjectiving, simple past and past participle adjectived)

1. (transitive) To make an adjective of; to form or convert into an adjective.
   • 1805, John Horne Tooke, Epea Pteroenta: or The Diversions of Purley Part 2

     Language has as much occasion to adjective the distinct signification of the verb, and to adjective also the mood, as it has to adjective time. It has […] adjectived all three.

   • 1832, William Hunter, An Anglo-Saxon grammar, and derivatives, page 46:

     In English, instead of adjectiving our own substantives, we have borrowed, in immense numbers, adjectived signs from other languages […]

2. (transitive, chiefly as a participle) To characterize with an adjective; to describe by using an adjective.

Synonyms[edit]

• adjectify
• adjectivize

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

(converting into or using as another part of speech:)

• adjectivize/adjectivise, adjective, adjectify
• adverbialize/adverbialise, (rare) adverb
• nominalize/nominalise, substantivize/substantivise, noun, (rare) nounify, (very rare) substantive
• verbalize/verbalise, (colloquial) verb

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /a.dʒɛk.tiv/

Adjective[edit]

adjective

1. feminine singular of adjectif

Latin[edit]

Adjective[edit]

adjectīve

1. vocative masculine singular of adjectīvus

Romanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ad.ʒekˈti.ve]

Noun[edit]

adjective

1. plural of adjectiv

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

From Latin (nomen) adjectivum.

Noun[edit]

adjective (plural adjectives)

1. (grammar) adjective

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What we really have to do is stop the adjective before the job title — whether it’s ‘black actor,’ a ‘gay actor’ or anything actor.

Matt Bomer

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD ADJECTIVE

From Late Latin adjectīvus attributive, from adjicere to throw to, add, from ad- to + jacere to throw; in grammatical sense, from the Latin phrase nōmen adjectīvum attributive noun.

PRONUNCIATION OF ADJECTIVE

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF ADJECTIVE

Adjective can act as a noun and an adjective.

WHAT DOES ADJECTIVE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Definition of adjective in the English dictionary

The definition of adjective in the dictionary is a word imputing a characteristic to a noun or pronoun. Other definition of adjective is additional or dependent.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH ADJECTIVE

TRANSLATION OF ADJECTIVE

Find out the translation of adjective to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «ADJECTIVE»

The term «adjective» is quite widely used and occupies the 24.295 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.

Principal search tendencies and common uses of adjective

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «ADJECTIVE» OVER TIME

9 QUOTES WITH «ADJECTIVE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word adjective.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «ADJECTIVE»

Discover the use of adjective in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to adjective and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «ADJECTIVE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term adjective is used in the context of the following news items.

REFERENCE

« EDUCALINGO. Adjective [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/adjective>. Apr 2023 ».

Definition

Adjective can be defined as “Adjective is a word naming an attribute of a noun or pronoun, such as sweet, red, or technical.”

Explanation

Adjectives are words which modify, identify or quantify nouns or pronouns. It is a parts of speech and provides more information about noun or pronoun in order to make a clear view of noun or pronoun in the reader’s mind and create feeling about what writer has written.

Adjective words are describing words such as black, handsome, fair, beautiful, bold, pretty, fierce, many, few, majestic, small, tall, blue, much, more, green, cute, red, smart, etc. Adjective words cannot stand on their own however used to describe nouns or pronouns or modify them. It provides specialty to the noun or pronoun. Number of rules govern the use of various types of adjectives in the sentence. It is very necessary to understand all the rules to be able to use adjectives to get advantage.

For example:

• There is a tall man. (in this example, ‘tall’ is an adjective because it describes man.)
• He was eating healthy food. (here ‘healthy’ is an adjective as it is describing food.)
• There are six persons in the house. (here ‘six’ is an adjective as it is telling the number of noun in the house.)

Types

Adjectives are of different types based upon its effect on the noun or pronoun. Various types of adjective are described below with proper definition and examples.

1) Adjective of Quality or Descriptive Adjective

Adjective of quality is also known as descriptive adjective as it describes the nature and attribute of nouns or pronouns. They give quite better idea to understand the characteristics of noun or pronoun by answering the question. Descriptive adjectives are like honest, kind, large, bulky, thin, fat, beautiful, smart, ugly, etc.

For Example:

• New Delhi is a large capital city of India having very old historical monuments.
• Neha is a thin and beautiful.

More …

2) Adjective of Quantity

Adjective of quantity shows the approximate amount of a noun or pronoun however do not provide exact numbers. It tells the amount of noun or pronoun in relative or whole terms. Such as; few, little, enough, all, many, half, no, great, etc.

For Example:

• I have seen few people eating rice.
• Many people come every year to visit the fair.

More …

3) Adjective of Number or Numeral Adjective

Adjective of number is also known as numeral adjective. It indicates the number of nouns and their place in the sentence. Numeral adjective is categorized into three different sections which are described below:

Definite Numeral Adjective

Definite numeral adjectives are those adjectives which clearly show the exact number of nouns or its order.

For example:

One, two, three, four, twenty, thirty three, etc are known as cardinals.

First, second, third, fourth, seventh, tenth, etc are known as ordinals.

• I saw two people playing football.
• It was tenth football match in the city.

Indefinite Numeral Adjective

Indefinite numeral adjectives are those adjectives which do not show the exact numerical amount of noun however give general idea of that amount.

For example:

Many, some, any, few, all, several, etc.

• I saw only few people present at the meeting.

Distributive Numeral Adjective

Distributive numeral adjectives are those adjectives which followed by a singular noun and a singular verb. However, sometimes there is use of a plural noun and a singular verb by using each of, either of, every one of, and neither of.

For example:

Either, each, neither, every, another, other, etc.

• Each leg has four fingers and one toe.
• Every child need care and love.
• Either method is wrong.
• Neither method is correct.
• Either of the methods is wrong.
• Neither of the methods is correct.

More…

4) Demonstrative Adjective

Demonstrative adjectives are those adjectives which indicate a particular noun or pronoun uses adjectives like this, these, that, and those.

For example:

• That is my bag.
• I like this food very much.
• I really like playing with these
• Those flowers are looking very beautiful.

More…

5) Interrogative Adjective

Interrogative adjectives are those adjectives which are used to ask questions and accompany nouns. It is placed before noun in the sentence. Interrogative adjectives are like where, which, what, and whose.

For example:

• Where did I said I was going?
• What assignment did you missed out?
• Which is your favorite game?
• Whose lunch box is this?

More…

6) Coordinate Adjective

Coordinate adjectives are those adjectives which appear in the sequence in order to modify the same noun. Such type of adjectives are separated by the use of commas or and (always comes before final adjective). They can be rearranged in a series.

For example:

dull, nice, rainy day, dark and stormy night

• He was a very kind, smart, loving human being.
• He was a loving, smart and generous human being.

More…

7) Non-Coordinate Adjective

Non-coordinate adjectives are those adjectives which do not make any sense after inserting commas or and in between. Non-coordinate adjectives do not use commas or and to get separated and cannot be rearranged in a series.

For example:

• I have three healthy active children. (this sentence makes a sense and is grammatically correct)
• I have active three healthy children. (this sentence does not make sense and is grammatically incorrect)
• I have active and healthy and three children. (this sentence does not make sense and is grammatically incorrect)

More…

Possessive Adjective

Possessive adjectives are those adjectives which we use to point out the noun belongs to someone. Possessive adjectives are like My, our, your, her, his, their, and its.

For example:

• This is our school.
• It is her.
• Your dog is very kind.

More…

Rules of Ordering Adjectives

Learning all the rules of ordering adjectives make us able to order adjectives in a meaningful sequence. Learning rules of ordering adjectives are very important in order to use number of different adjectives while making sentence. It makes us able to understand which adjective should be placed first in the sentence and which one last.

Generally, we can make sentence by putting only one adjective into the sentence however in order to know further details about the noun and pronoun, we can place more than one adjectives into the sentence in proper order by using rules of ordering adjectives. Here are the rules of ordering the adjectives:

Determiners

We should first place the adjectives like article, possessive, demonstrative, numerical, quantifier, or distributive adjectives into the sentence. An example is given below using a numerical adjective first:

• I have two good. (a sentence making sense and grammatically correct.)

If we rewrite the above example by putting the quality adjective first to the quantity adjective, the we see that:

• I have good two. (a sentence making no sense and grammatically incorrect.)

Quantity, Number, and Opinion

The use of numerical adjective should follow after and not before while using adjectives like article, possessive, demonstrative, quantifier, or distributive adjectives in the sentence. However, in case, if we put numerical adjective as first adjective, we can follow it with opinion or quality adjective.

For example:

• I have two good friends. (In this sentence, good is quality or opinion adjective which follows after the numerical adjective.)

Size

All the above sequential adjectives like numerical, article, quality or opinion adjectives are followed by another adjective describing the size of noun.

For example:

• I have two good little birds. (little is the adjective describing the size of noun.)

Age

All the above adjectives are followed by the adjective describing age of the noun. In the above example, we can see that the word “little” provides some information about kid’s age however, not very clear. So, it needs a separate sentence to describe the age of noun.

For example:

• I have two good little toddlers.

Or,

• I have two good little kids. They are four and six.

Or,

• I have two good little school-age children.

We can show the age of noun in the sentence in many ways such as, by changing the noun (like toddlers or school-age) in order to reflect age or showing the age in separate sentence. However, only changing the noun does not make clear sense of age and creates confusion to the reader. So, it is good to add second sentence to identify the age of noun.

Shape

In order to describe the shape of the noun, we can use variety of object shapes such as circle, square, triangle, rectangle, etc. If your noun is a person, you would describe their appearance. For this example, let’s change the example so we can actually use a shape:

For example:

• I have two soft big new circular mats. (this sentence is quite long, so we can add some attributes of noun in separate sentence.)

Color

We can add color adjective to the sentence after shape adjective.

For example:

• I have two soft big new circular red mats. (this sentence is quite long, so we can write creatively and add some attributes of noun in separate sentence.)

Such as:

• I have two soft big balls. Both are new, circular and red in color.

Origin

In order to describe the origin of the item, we need to locate the place where the item is purchased or manufactured by the use of adjectives.

For example:

• I have two soft big new circular red Indian mats. (this sentence describe the heritage and manufacturing place of the item.)
• I have two soft big new circular red balls from the North. (this sentence is quite unclear, just showing the place of purchase.)

Material

In order to provide detail of the item, we need to describe about the material of the item it is made of such as rubber, wood, plastic, etc. Whereas, we need to describe behavior if we talk about a person.

For example:

• I have two soft little rubber.
• I have two kind small energetic puppy.
  

Grammatical Modifier

Sometimes, nouns or other forms of speech are used to modify nouns by using special kind of adjectives called as grammatical modifiers. Grammatical modifiers are added in last to a sentence.

For example:

• He has a small brown wooden dog house. (In this sentence, dog is a grammatical modifier as it modifies the noun house. Grammatical modifier here makes clear that the house is for dog, not for human.)

Degrees of Adjectives

Degrees of adjectives or levels of adjectives or degrees of comparison are of three types namely, positive, comparative, and superlative. All the degrees of adjectives are described below with proper examples.

Positive Degree

Positive degree of adjectives are used when we talk about the single person, place, or thing.

For example:

• He is a smart boy.
  
• It is a nice pen.
  

Comparative Degree

Comparative degree of adjectives are used when we compare two persons, places, or things. We can add “er” to the simple word to transform it to the comparative form or we can use the word “more” or “than” after the adjective.

For example:

• This swimming pool is smaller than the last one.
• You are more intelligent than your brother.
  

In order to transform the word ending with letter ‘y’, we need to replace ‘y’ with ‘i’ and then add “er” such as:

• lovely-lovelier
• happy-happier
• pretty-prettier
• tasty-tastier
• lucky-luckier

Superlative Degree

Superlative degree of adjectives are used when we compare more than two things. The word “the” is added before the adjective. A common word is transformed to its superlative form by adding a suffix “est” or the word “most.”

For example:

• I wear the clothes from biggest store.
  
• This is the most important moment of my life.

In order to transform the word ending with letter ‘y’, we need to replace ‘y’ with ‘i’ and then add “est” such as:

• lovely-loveliest
• happy-happiest
• pretty-prettiest
• tasty-tastiest
• lucky-luckiest

3.1. Definition

The
adjective is a part of speech which denotes the property of
substance. This is the nominative class of words though functionally
limited as compared with nouns. This means that adjectives are not
supposed to name objects: they can only describe them in terms of the
material they are made of, their colour, size, quality, etc: red,
white, big, high, long, good, kind, happy. Therefore
they find themselves semantically and syntactically bound with nouns
or pronouns: We
bought white paint. We painted the door white. She is a happy woman.
She is happy. He made her happy.

The
exceptions are substantivized
adjectives, i.e.
those that in the course of time have been converted to nouns
and
therefore have acquired the ability to name substances or objects:
The
bride was dressed in white. You mix blue and yellow to make green.

The
substantivation
of
adjectives may be either com­plete or incomplete. In the case of
complete substantiva­tion, words like a
native, a relative, a conservative, an al­ternative, a
cooperative, a derivative, a savage, a stupid, a criminal, a black, a
white, a liberal, a radical, a general, a corporal, a Russian, an
American, a Greek, a Hunga­rian, a weekly, a monthly and
so on share all the nounal grammatical characteristics: number, case,
the ability to be used with the definite and indefinite articles: a
native, two natives, the native’s hut; an American, two Americans,
the American’s accent.

The
incomplete substantivation presupposes only some of nounal
grammatical characteristics. For example, some of substantivized
adjectives have only the plural form: valuables,
eatables, ancients, sweets.

Most
of substantivized adjectives of the kind are similar to collective
nouns since they denote a whole class. They are used with the
definite article: the
rich, the poor, the unemployed, the black, the white, the deaf and
dumb, the English, the French, the Chinese. In
a sentence they are normally associated with a plural verb: The
rich get
richer and the
poor get
poorer.

The
substantivized adjectives denoting abstract no­tions are used
with the definite article but are associated with the singular verb:
the
good, the evil, the beautiful, the future, the present, the past: The
evil
that men do lives
after
them/The good is oft interred with their bones. (W. Shakespeare)

3.2. Morphological structure of adjectives

As
well as nouns adjectives are structurally classified into simple,
derivative and
compound.

Simple
adjectives
have no affixes and thus cannot be further segmented: red,
white, big, kind.

Derivative
adjectives
derive from either nouns, verbs or even adjectives themselves by
means of suffixes and prefixes: beautiful
< beauty, friendless < friend, illogical < logic, unreliable
< rely, independent < depend, repentant < repent, reddish <
red, greyish < grey, childish < child.

The
productive adjective-forming suffixes arc:

-able/-ible:
usable, readable, intelligible, responsible;

-ful:
colourful, useful, deceitful;

-less:
colourless, useless;

-like:
businesslike, childlike.

The
less productive suffixes are:

-ish
after
the nounal root-stem: British,
Turkish. Spanish; selfish, foolish, childish;

-ish
after
the adjectival root-stem: greyish,
yellowish, youngish, tall ish:

-ish
after
the numeral root-stem: eightish,
fortyish;

-ant/-ent:
confidant, expectant; consequent, current;

-ous:
curious, obvious, industrious, infectious;

-some:
troublesome, quarrelsome;

-en:
woolen, wooden, silken;

-an:
American, Italian, Austrian;

-y:
watery_, snowy, rainy, easy;

-al:
principal, accidental, parental;

-ic/-ical:
photographic; grammatical, hysterical, mu­sical; historic —
historical,
economic — economical:

-ive/-ative:
active, explosive; communicative, deri­vative;

-ate/-ite:
delicate,, animate, accurate; definite, com­posite;

-or/ory/ary:
inferior, superior; compulsory, conso­latory, preparatory;
customary, stationary, sanitary:

-ing:
surprising, perplexing:

-ed:
barbed, beaded;

-ly:
friendly, womanly, monthly.

Note
that -ed,
-ing and
-ly
can
be regarded as adjectival suffixes only with some reservation for
adjectives like surprising,
perplexing and
barbed,
beaded

are
in fact adjectivized present and past participles correspondingly
while the -ly
suffix
is more typical of adverbs.

The
adjective-forming prefixes are:

pre-:
prearranged, prewar;

pro-:
pro-American;

un-:
unusual, unpredictable, unhappy;

in-:
insensitive, inanimate;

im-:
impossible, immoral;

il-:
illiterate, illogical;

dis-:
dishonest, disinterested;

a-:
aloof, agog, ajar, ablaze, aglow, afire.

Note
that words with the a-
prefix
are traditionally discussed within the class of adjectives though
actually their morphological status is rather ambiguous: they are in
between adjectives and adverbs.

Compound
adjectives
are made up of two or more stems. Here are the main types of compound
adjectives:

a)
noun-stem + adjective-stem: point-blank,
raven-haired,

b)
adjective-stem + noun-stem: small-scale,
small­time, blue-collar,

c)
adjective-stem + adjective-stem: deaf-mute,
good-looking, small-minded.

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