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adjective

 - 4 dictionary results

ad⋅jec⋅tive

[aj-ik-tiv]
–noun
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.
–adjective
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 ).

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < LL adjectīvum, neut. of adjectīvus, equiv. to adject(us) attached, added, ptp. of ad(j)icere (ad- ad- + -jec-, comb. form of jac- throw + -tus ptp. suffix) + -īvus -ive


ad⋅jec⋅tive⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ad·jec·tive   (āj'ĭk-tĭv)   
n.   Abbr. a. or adj.
  1. The part of speech that modifies a noun or other substantive by limiting, qualifying, or specifying and distinguished in English morphologically by one of several suffixes, such as -able, -ous, -er, and -est, or syntactically by position directly preceding a noun or nominal phrase.

  2. Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, such as white in the phrase a white house.

adj.  
  1. Adjectival: an adjective clause.

  2. Law Prescriptive; remedial: adjective law.

  3. Not standing alone; derivative or dependent.


[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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

adjective

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.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

adjective 
1414, from O.Fr. adjectif, from L. adjectivum "that is added to (the noun)," neut. of adjectivus "added," from pp. of adicere "to throw or place (a thing) near," from ad- "to" + comb. form of jacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). In 19c. Britain, often a euphemism for bloody.
"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]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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