[aj-ik-tiv] 
| 1. | Grammar. any member of a class of words that in many languages are distinguished in form, as partly in English by having comparative and superlative endings, or by functioning as modifiers of nouns, as good, wise, perfect. |
| 2. | pertaining to or functioning as an adjective; adjectival: the adjective use of a noun. |
| 3. | not able to stand alone; dependent. |
| 4. | Law. concerning methods of enforcement of legal rights, as pleading and practice (opposed to substantive ). |
| 5. | (of dye colors) requiring a mordant or the like to render them permanent (opposed to substantive ). |
| ad·jec·tive (āj'ĭk-tĭv) n. Abbr. a. or adj.
[Middle English, from Old French adjectif, from Late Latin adiectīvus, from adiectus, past participle of adicere, to add to : ad-, ad- + iacere, to throw; see yē- in Indo-European roots.] ad'jec·tive·ly adv. |
A part of speech that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives are usually placed just before the words they qualify: shy child, blue notebook, rotten apple, four horses, another table.
"They ... slept until it was cool enough to go out with their 'Towny,' whose vocabulary contained less than six hundred words, and the Adjective." [Kipling, "Soldiers Three," 1888]
ɪk