adjective
See also: adjectivé
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Old French adjectif, from Latin adiectīvum, from ad (“next to”) + -iect-, perfect passive participle of iaciō (“throw”) + -īvus, adjective ending; hence, a word "thrown next to" a noun, modifying it. This 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
AdjectiveEdit
adjective (not comparable)
- (obsolete) 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.
- 1899, John Jay Chapman, Emerson and Other Essays, AMS Press (1969) (as reproduced in Project Gutenberg)
- (grammar) Adjectival; pertaining to or functioning as an adjective.
- (law) Applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure.
- Macaulay
- The whole English law, substantive and adjective.
- Macaulay
- (chemistry, of a dye) Needing the use of a mordant to be made fast to that which is being dyed.
TranslationsEdit
incapable of independent function
adjectival — see adjectival
methods of enforcement and rules of procedure
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NounEdit
adjective (plural adjectives)
- (grammar) A word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent.
- The words “big” and “heavy” are English adjectives.
- (obsolete) A dependent; an accessory.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from adjective
TranslationsEdit
(grammar) a word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent
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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.
- Tooke
- 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 […]
- Tooke
TranslationsEdit
To make an adjective of
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