adjective
adjectives
An adjective is a word that modifies a noun (or pronoun) to make it more specific: a "rotten" egg, a "cloudy" day, a "lovely" lady, or a "tall," "cool" glass of water.
You use adjectives to give your nouns a little attitude or to communicate clearly. Without these important parts of speech, the president would live in The House, it would be difficult to give someone directions to the store, and there would only be one size available at Starbucks.
Definitions of adjective
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the word class that qualifies nouns
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type of:
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major form class
any of the major parts of speech of traditional grammar
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major form class
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a word that expresses an attribute of something
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types:
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descriptive adjective, qualifying adjective
an adjective that ascribes to its noun the value of an attribute of that noun (e.g., `a nervous person' or `a musical speaking voice')
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classifying adjective, relational adjective
an adjective that classifies its noun (e.g., `a nervous disease' or `a musical instrument')
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positive, positive degree
the primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification, comparison, or relation to increase or diminution
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comparative, comparative degree
the comparative form of an adjective or adverb
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superlative, superlative degree
the superlative form of an adjective or adverb
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pertainym
meaning relating to or pertaining to
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of or relating to or functioning as an adjective“an adjective clause”
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synonyms:
adjectival
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relating to court practice and procedure as opposed to the principles of law“adjective law”
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synonyms:
procedural
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Antonyms:
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essential, substantive
defining rights and duties as opposed to giving the rules by which rights and duties are established
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essential, substantive
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘adjective'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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