adjective
Grammar. any member of a class of words that modify nouns and pronouns, primarily by describing a particular quality of the word they are modifying, as wise in a wise grandmother, or perfect in a perfect score, or handsome in He is extremely handsome. Other terms, as numbers (one cup; twelve months), certain demonstrative pronouns (this magazine; those questions), and terms that impose limits (each person; no mercy) can also function adjectivally, as can some nouns that are found chiefly in fixed phrases where they immediately precede the noun they modify, as bottle in bottle cap and bus in bus station.
pertaining to or functioning as an adjective; adjectival: the adjective use of a noun.
Law. concerning methods of enforcement of legal rights, as pleading and practice (opposed to substantive def. 9).
(of dye colors) requiring a mordant or the like to render them permanent (opposed to substantive def. 10).
Archaic. not able to stand alone; dependent: Women were seen by some (by some men, that is) as adjective creatures, needing to be cared for and protected from the vicissitudes of life.
Origin of adjective
1Grammar notes for adjective
In addition, many true adjectives are gradable. That is, they can be upgraded ( very pretty ), downgraded ( somewhat disorganized ), or intensified ( really tired ). Usually, those that should not be compared, as correct, impossible, and mortal, are also not gradable. A vote, for example, cannot be very unanimous, too unanimous, or not unanimous enough; it is either unanimous or not. And only in The Wizard of Oz is the Wicked Witch “not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.” That is not to say that there are no exceptions, as can be seen at the expanded usage note for the absolute adjective unique.
Pronouns, as your, this, and each, can also function as adjectives. But it is the noun as modifier, like bottle and bus in bottle cap and bus station, that gives headaches to dictionary compilers. Faced with evidence, they must ask themselves if occasional use as a modifier makes a particular noun worthy of full adjective status. Bottle and bus certainly do not pass comparison or gradation tests; my cap isn’t more bottle than yours, nor is it very bottle. These nouns are not listed as adjectives in this dictionary. Yet similar nouns, like coffee, kitchen, and summer, are. The number of items they can modify, the number of adjectival senses they have, and the degree to which such senses differ from their noun senses all play a part in the decision. That decision, however is never final. Meanings expand and evolve. Language changes as we speak.
Other words for adjective
1 | modifier, qualifier, identifier, describer, describing word |
Other words from adjective
- ad·jec·ti·val, adjective
- ad·jec·ti·val·ly, ad·jec·tive·ly, adverb
- non·ad·jec·tive·ly, adverb
- pre·ad·jec·tive, adjective
Words Nearby adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use adjective in a sentence
I don’t have any more adjectives other than what you guys have probably been using, but, yeah, he’s playing at an elite, elite level.
Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid lead the NHL MVP race | Neil Greenberg | February 26, 2021 | Washington PostEmotions and adjectives ran the gamut but few observers appeared to come away thinking that the last remaining superpower could rise above its bitter partisan rancor as the election looms barely a month away.
‘America faces a dangerous several weeks’: The world reacts to the first presidential debate | John Buysse | September 30, 2020 | FortuneIn fact, “plastic” can also be used as an adjective and mean that something can be formed or shaped easily.
Moving forward, the team plans to experiment more to improve the quality of the image generation and expand the model’s visual and linguistic vocabulary to include more topics, objects, and adjectives.
These weird, unsettling photos show that AI is getting smarter | Karen Hao | September 25, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThis highly-trafficked phrase is also a testament to just how critical it is to communicate the specific dangers posed by an incoming storm -- even a simple choice of adjectives can make a difference in how information is disseminated.
NOAA is changing the way it talks about hurricanes | Greta Moran | September 22, 2020 | Popular-Science
This time he decline to offer an adjective, said he would leave it to others to go through the tea leaves of the election.
In Press Conference, Obama Turns Conciliatory—Mostly | Eleanor Clift | November 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHow could I have written something so, so (fill in the negative adjective)?
And so we are all supposed to denote something from “working mother” as a descriptive adjective.
You use an adjective, it better be a sixty-four-dollar adjective.
Pete Dexter’s Indelible Portrait of Author Norman Maclean | Pete Dexter | March 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe French have an adjective that the English language lacks—“digest.”
Pope-holy; properly an adjective, meaning 'holy as a pope,' hence, hypocritical.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey ChaucerWhen the exact sense was lost, the suffix -al seemed to be adjectival, and the word dismal became at last an adjective.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey ChaucerThis is the termination of the present participle and verbal adjective derived from verbs in -a.
Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred DownerThis is wrong, and probably due to the dropping of the final e in the definite adjective firste.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey ChaucerOnce more there is no definition of the term able-bodied, which is used sometimes as an adjective and sometimes as a substantive.
English Poor Law Policy | Sidney Webb
British Dictionary definitions for adjective
/ (ˈædʒɪktɪv) /
a word imputing a characteristic to a noun or pronoun
(as modifier): an adjective phrase Abbreviation: adj
additional or dependent
(of law) relating to court practice and procedure, as opposed to the principles of law dealt with by the courts: Compare substantive (def. 7)
Origin of adjective
1Derived forms of adjective
- adjectival (ˌædʒɪkˈtaɪvəl), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for 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 New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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