adjective
See also: adjectivé
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
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.
- 1648, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge since the Conquest
- it must be an adjective of dain
- 1648, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge since the Conquest
SynonymsEdit
HyponymsEdit
- attributive adjective
- cardinal adjective
- demonstrative adjective
- descriptive adjective
- indefinite adjective
- interrogative adjective
- limiting 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 termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
(grammar) a word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent
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AdjectiveEdit
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, volume (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)
TranslationsEdit
incapable of independent function
adjectival — see adjectival
methods of enforcement and rules of procedure
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VerbEdit
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.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to make an adjective of — See also translations at adjectivize
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See alsoEdit
(converting into or using as another part of speech:)
- adjectivize/adjectivise, adjective, adjectify
- adverbialize/adverbialise, (rare) adverb
- nominalize/nominalise, substantivize/substantivise, noun, (rare) nounify, (very rare) substantive
- verbalize/verbalise, (colloquial) verb
FrenchEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
adjective
LatinEdit
AdjectiveEdit
adjectīve
RomanianEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
adjective
ScotsEdit
EtymologyEdit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
From Latin (nomen) adjectivum.
NounEdit
adjective (plural adjectives)