adjective
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/
Audio (General American): (file)
Noun
[edit]adjective (plural adjectives)
- (grammar) A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent.
- The words “big” and “heavy” are English adjectives.
- 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 8:
- "They'll have to invent new adjectives when I come back. You wait!"
- (obsolete) A dependent; an accessory.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge, since the Conquest, [London]: [[…] Iohn Williams […]], →OCLC:
- it must be an adjective of dain
Synonyms
[edit]Hyponyms
[edit]- attributive adjective
- cardinal adjective
- demonstrative adjective
- descriptive adjective
- i-adjective
- indefinite adjective
- interrogative adjective
- limiting adjective
- na-adjective
- nominalized adjective
- noun adjunct
- numerical adjective
- ordinal adjective
- participial adjective
- possessional adjective
- possessive adjective
- postpositive adjective
- predicative adjective
- prepositive adjective
- privative adjective
- proper adjective
- quasi-adjective
- relational adjective
- relative adjective
- substantive adjective
Derived terms
[edit]- adjectival
- adjective clause
- adjective dye
- adjectivehood
- adjectiveless
- adjectively
- adjective patterns
- adjective phrase
- adjective pronoun
- adjective verb
- adjectivism
- adjectivitis
- adjectivity
- adjectivization
- common adjective
- deadjectival
- nonadjective
- overadjectived
- predicate adjective
- proadjective
- proper adjective
- unadjectived
- い-adjective
- な-adjective
Translations
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Adjective
[edit]adjective (not comparable)
- (grammar) Adjectival; pertaining to or functioning as an adjective.
- Synonym: adjectival
- (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, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- The whole English law, substantive and adjective.
- Synonym: procedural
- Antonym: substantive
- (chemistry, of a dye) Needing the use of a mordant to be made fast to that which is being dyed.
- Antonym: substantive
- (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
- 1899, John Jay Chapman, Emerson and Other Essays, AMS Press (1969) (as reproduced in Project Gutenberg)
Translations
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Verb
[edit]adjective (third-person singular simple present adjectives, present participle adjectiving, simple past and past participle adjectived)
- (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 […]
- 1805, John Horne Tooke, Epea Pteroenta: or The Diversions of Purley Part 2
- (transitive, chiefly as a participle) To characterize with an adjective; to describe by using an adjective.
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
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See also
[edit](converting into or using as another part of speech:)
- adjectivize/adjectivise, adjective, adjectify
- adverbialize/adverbialise, (rare) adverb, (rare) adverbify, adverbize
- nominalize/nominalise, substantivize/substantivise, noun, (rare) nounify, (very rare) substantive
- verbalize/verbalise, (colloquial) verb, verbify
French
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]adjective
Latin
[edit]Adjective
[edit]adjectīve
Portuguese
[edit]Verb
[edit]adjective
- inflection of adjectivar:
Romanian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]adjective
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)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Grammar
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- en:Law
- en:Chemistry
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Adjectives
- en:Parts of speech
- English autological terms
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French non-lemma forms
- French adjective forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms
- Latin terms spelled with J
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian noun forms
- Scots terms derived from Latin
- Scots lemmas
- Scots nouns
- sco:Grammar