Adjective | Definition, Types, Examples & Listings

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Below is a complete guide to English adjectives that covers everything from their definition and types to their gender, number, case, functions, and usage. So, we provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of adjectives in the English language.

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns, providing additional information about their size, shape, color, quantity, or other attributes: Yellow, Big,  Silly, Fun, Slow.

Adjectives

Define Adjective With Examples

An adjective is a part of speech that is used to describe or modify a noun or a pronoun. They are used to provide additional information about a noun or pronoun’s size, color, shape, age, origin, material, or other qualities. They help to make the language more descriptive and specific. The Crow is black.

Table of Contents

10 Examples of Adjectives

  • Happy: Always be Happy.
  • Big: He has a big guest house.
  • Small: I have a small dog.
  • Fast: The fast car won the race.
  • Slow: The turtle is slow.
  • Cold: The water is cold.
  • Hot: Today is a hot day.
  • Beautiful: She is beautiful.
  • Tall: He is a tall boy.
  • Funny: He is very funny.

Adjective Suffix

An adjective suffix is a group of letters that is added to the end of a root word to create a new adjective. Suffixes can change the meaning or grammatical function of the root word, and can also indicate the degree or intensity of the adjective. Some common adjective suffixes include:

  • able/-ible: able to be, capable of, suitable for (e.g. comfortable, flexible, sensible)
  • al: relating to, characterized by (e.g. national, musical, cultural)
  • ful: full of, having the qualities of (e.g. joyful, beautiful, peaceful)
  • ic: relating to, having the qualities of (e.g. artistic, heroic, athletic)
  • ish: somewhat, resembling (e.g. childish, reddish, girlish)
  • ive: having the tendency to, cause (e.g. active, creative, positive)
  • less: without, lacking (e.g. endless, fearless, hopeless)
  • ous: full of, having the qualities of (e.g. famous, dangerous, curious)
  • y: characterized by, tending to (e.g. rainy, windy, happy)

 Important Note!!! all words that end in these suffixes are adjectives, and some adjectives may not have a recognizable suffix.

Common Adjectives Examples

  • Big
  • Red
  • Happy
  • Tasty
  • Fast
  • Beautiful
  • Smart
  • Heavy
  • Small
  • Soft
  • Bright
  • Old
  • Strong
  • Short
  • Round
  • Tall
  • Green
  • Brave
  • Quiet
  • Young

Types of Adjectives

Here we discuss different types of adjectives in English grammar that can be used to spice up your sentences. Types of adjectives help to organize the almost limitless amount of adjectives. You should remember that adjectives can modify as well as describe other words. So, you will find it much easier to identify different types of adjectives when you see them.

Define Descriptive Adjectives With Examples

Descriptive adjectives are words that are used to provide more information about a noun or pronoun by describing its qualities, characteristics, or attributes. They make the language more specific and descriptive and can be used to create vivid images in the reader’s mind.

Types Of Descriptive Adjectives

  • Size (big, small)
  • Shape (round, square)
  • Color (red, blue)
  • Texture (rough, smooth)
  • Age (old, young)
  • Origin (Italian, Chinese)

Use Of Descriptive Adjectives

  • Create comparisons (taller, more beautiful)
  • Express degree (extremely happy, somewhat sad)
  • Provide more information about a specific noun (a beautiful sunset, or a small dog)

Descriptive Adjectives Examples

  • The fluffy cat slept peacefully on the windowsill.
  • The sparkling diamond necklace caught her eye in the store.
  • The tiny baby bird chirped loudly in the nest.
  • The sleek sports car zoomed down the highway.
  • The delicious aroma of freshly baked bread filled the kitchen.

Define Demonstrative Adjectives With Examples

They are a type of adjective that is used to point out or identify a particular noun or group of nouns. Demonstrative adjectives in English are “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those.” These adjectives are used to indicate whether the noun being described is near or far, singular or plural, and to distinguish between different objects or groups.

Demonstrative Adjectives Examples

  1. This house is beautiful.
  2. That car is too expensive.
  3. These cookies taste amazing.
  4. Those mountains in the distance are stunning.
  5. This chair is more comfortable than that one.

Define Quantitative Adjectives With Examples

Quantitative adjectives are a type of adjective that provide information about the quantity or number of a noun or pronoun. These adjectives answer the question “how much” or “how many“. They are also used to describe the amount, size, or degree of something.

Quantitative Adjectives Examples

  1. There were only a few people at the party.
  2. She has many books on her shelf.
  3. I have several errands to run today.
  4. There isn’t enough food for everyone.
  5. We have plenty of time to finish the project

Define Possessive Adjectives With Examples

Possessive adjectives Spanish is a type of adjective that is used to indicate ownership or possession of a noun. These adjectives modify nouns and show who owns or possesses them. Common possessive adjectives in English are “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “its,” “our,” and “their.”

Possessive Adjectives Examples

  1. This is my book.
  2. Your dog is very friendly.
  3. His bike was stolen yesterday.
  4. Her phone is ringing.
  5. Its color is bright red.

Define Interrogative Adjectives Withe Examples

Interrogative adjectives are a type of adjective that are used to ask questions about a noun or group of nouns. They are often used in sentences that begin with a question word such as “what,” “which,” or “whose.”

They can also modify the noun they precede and are used to gain more information or clarification about a particular subject.

Interrogative Adjectives Examples

  1. Which book did you read?
  2. Whose car is parked in front of the building?
  3. What color is your shirt?
  4. Which team won the game?

Define Comparative Adjectives With Examples

Comparative adjectives are a type of adjective that are used to compare two or more nouns or pronouns. These adjectives typically end in “-er” or are preceded by the word “more“. They are used to indicate that one thing has more or less of a particular quality than another.

Comparative Adjectives Examples

  1. This car is faster than that one.
  2. Mary is taller than her sister.
  3. This book is more interesting than that one.
  4. His essay was better than mine.
  5. The weather today is worse than yesterday.

Define Superlative Adjectives With Examples

Superlative adjectives are a type of adjective that is used to describe the highest or lowest degree of a particular quality in a group of three or more nouns or pronouns. These adjectives typically end in “-est” or are preceded by the word “most“. They are used to indicate that one thing has the most or least of a particular quality in a group.

Superlative Adjectives Examples

  1. This is the fastest car in the world.
  2. She is the tallest person in her family.
  3. This is the most interesting book I’ve ever read.
  4. This is the best pizza in town.
  5. He is the smartest student in his class.

Position of Adjectives

Adjectives can be placed in different positions in a sentence. Depending on the type of adjective and the intended meaning of the sentence. Generally, adjectives are placed before the noun they modify, but they can also be placed after the verb “to be” or after certain verbs of perception.

Placement of Adjectives Examples

  • Descriptive adjectives: They are typically placed before the noun they describe, such as “the red car” or “the beautiful sunset.”
  • Demonstrative adjectives: They can be placed before or after the noun, such as “this book” or “that book.”
  • Quantitative adjectives: Usually placed before the noun they modify, such as “several friends” or “a few apples.”
  • Possessive adjectives: You can place them before the noun they indicate ownership of, such as “my car” or “their house.”
  • Interrogative adjectives: They are placed before the noun they modify, such as “which book” or “whose phone.”
  • Comparative and superlative adjectives: They are usually followed by “than,” such as “bigger than” or “most beautiful of.”

Comparison of Adjectives

We can compare adjectives using comparative and superlative forms.

  • Comparative forms can compare two nouns.
  • Superlative forms are used to compare three or more nouns.

Most one-syllable adjectives form their comparative and superlative forms by adding –er and –est, respectively, such as “big,” “bigger,” and “biggest.”

Note! One-syllable adjectives, most two- and three-syllable adjectives form their comparative and superlative forms by adding “more” and “most,” respectively, such as “beautiful,” “more beautiful,” and “most beautiful.”

Comparison of Adjectives Examples

  • This car is faster than that one. (Comparative) This car is the fastest of them all. (Superlative)
  • John is taller than Tom. (Comparative) John is the tallest in the group. (Superlative)
  • The weather is worse today than yesterday. (Comparative) Today is the worst weather we have had this week. (Superlative)
  • This coffee is better than that one. (Comparative) This coffee is the best one I have ever tasted. (Superlative)
  • His house is larger than mine. (Comparative) His house is the largest one on the street. (Superlative)
  • My phone is more expensive than hers. (Comparative) My phone is the most expensive one in the store. (Superlative)
  • That movie was more entertaining than the other one. (Comparative) That movie was the most entertaining one I have seen this year. (Superlative)

Types of adjectives

Examples of Adjectives Ending in -ED and -ING

Below is an adjectives list ending in -ED and -ING:

Adjectives ending in “-ed”

  • Bored
  • Tired
  • Surprised
  • Interested
  • Confused
  • Excited
  • Frustrated
  • Amazed
  • Embarrassed
  • Satisfied

Adjectives ending in “-ing”

  • Boring
  • Tiring
  • Surprising
  • Interesting
  • Confusing
  • Exciting
  • Frustrating
  • Amazing
  • Embarrassing
  • Satisfying

List of Adjectives A-Z

Here is a complete commonly used adjectives list in English to improve your vocabulary in the English language. We sorted them alphabetically and by their grammatical functions.

Common Adjectives List Start With A

Amazing Anxious Ashamed
Angry Ancient Able
Adorable Attractive Awful
Awkward Awesome Appropriate
Amusing Admired Ambitious

Common Adjectives List Start With B

Beautiful Busy Bare
Brave Blue Best
Bright Broken Brief
Bitter Broad Bad
Big Brown Beloved

Adjectives List Start With C

Calm Confident Cold
Cheerful Creative Crazy
Charming Colorful Curious
Clever Comfortable Clumsy
Careful Cute Critical

Common Adjectives List Start With D

Dark Difficult Divine
Deep Dirty Domestic
Delightful Distant Dramatic
Desperate Distinct Dry
Determined Diverse Dull

Common Adjectives List Start With E

Easy Enthusiastic Extravagant
Elegant Eager Extreme
Efficient Excellent Exquisite
Eminent Exotic Eclectic
Emotional Expensive Elderly

Trending Adjectives List Start With F

Fabulous Fat Fine
Fancy Fearless Flawless
Fantastic Feisty Fluffy
Far Fierce Foolish
Fascinating Filthy Friendly

Common Adjectives List Start With G

Good Glamorous Groovy
Great Glorious Grateful
Gentle Genuine Giddy
Gracious Gigantic Grey
Generous Green Grim

Common Adjectives List Start With H

Happy Heavy Hot
Helpful High Humble
Hardworking Historic Humorous
Healthy Honorable Huge
Hearty Horrific Hungry

Best Adjectives List Start With I

Icy Illuminated Inactive
Ideal Immaculate Incomparable
Idiotic Immense Inexpensive
Ill Impartial Inquisitive
Illegal Impressive Interesting

Common Adjectives List Start With J

Jaded Jittery Jovial
Jarring Jocose Joyful
Jazzy Jocular Joyous
Jealous Jolly Jubilant
Jesting Joint Judicial

Common Adjectives List Start With K

Kind Kinesthetic Karmic
Keen Kooky Kernel
Known Kempt Knotty
Key Klutzy Kosher
Knockout Knowledgeable Kooky

All Adjectives List Start With L

Large Loud Lovely
Little Low Lucky
Long Loyal Luxurious
Late Lively Logical
Last Light Lonely

Common Adjectives List Start With M

Magnificent Majestic Magical
Mysterious Mischievous Mediocre
Marvelous Modern Modest
Moody Mature Massive
Melancholic Miniature Mouthwatering

Common Adjectives List Start With N

Narrow Neat New
Nasty Necessary Nice
Natural Negative Noisy
Naughty Neighboring Normal
Near Nervous Numerous

Powerful Adjectives List Start With O

Obese Odd Opposite
Objective Oily Optimistic
Obligatory Old Oral
Observant Open Organic
Obvious Operatic Ornate

Common Adjectives List Start With P

Powerful Polite Practical
Pleasant Proper Popular
Playful Positive Proud
Patient Passionate Precious
Punctual Precise Peaceful

Common Adjectives List Start With Q

Quaint Queenly Quilted
Qualified Quenchless Quirky
Quantitative Quick Quixotic
Quasi Quickest Quizzical
Quaternary Quiet Quality

Interesting Adjectives List Start With R

Radiant Raw Remote
Rapid Ready Resilient
Rare Realistic Respectful
Rash Reliable Responsible
Rational Remarkable Rich

Common Adjectives List Start With S

Sad Scruffy Simple
Safe Shiny Smart
Salty Short Smooth
Satisfied Shy Soft
Scary Silly Sour

Common Adjectives List Start With T

Tall Terrible Timid
Tiny Terrific Tiny
Tense Thick Tasty
Tired Thin Tremendous
Tender Tight Tricky

Unique Adjectives List Start With U

Ubiquitous Unacceptable Unique
Ugly Uncommon United
Ultimate Understated Universal
Ultra Uneasy Unusual
Umpteen Unforgettable Uplifting

Common Adjectives List Start With V

Vacant Verbal Vile
Valid Versatile Villainous
Valuable Vibrant Violent
Vast Victorious Virtual
Venerable Vigorous Vital

Common Adjectives List Start With W

Warm Wavy Wealthy
Wet Wide Wooden
White Witty Wonderful
Wise Weak Worthwhile
Wild Wicked Worried

List of Adjectives That Start With X

X-Acto Xanthopous Xenobiotic
Xanthian Xanthoproteic Xenodochial
Xanthic Xanthous Xenoglossic
Xanthochromatic Xany Xenophobic
Xanthogenic Xaroncharoo Xerarch

List Adjectives List Starting With Y

Yellow Yummy Yappy
Youthful Yawning Yester
Yearly Yearlong Yearning
Yielding Yucky Yare
Young Yankee Yeasty

Adjectives Starting With Z

Zabian Zealless Zestful
Zany Zealous Zesty
Zapping Zen Zigzag
Zappy Zeolitic Zillion
Zatfig Zero Zillionth

Top Adjectives To Describe a Person

  • Kind: Caring and nice to others.
  • Honest: Speak truth always.
  • Brave: Not afraid of any danger.
  • Smart: Good at thinking.
  • Friendly: Easy to talk to.

Adjectives For Kids

  1. Happy: Feeling good always.
  2. Funny: Reason to make people laugh.
  3. Nice: Kind to others.
  4. Playful: Likes to have fun.
  5. Helpful: Always help others.

Shape Adjectives List

  • Round
  • Square
  • Triangular
  • Oval
  • Rectangular
  • Circular
  • Curved
  • Flat
  • Pointed
  • Diamond-shaped

Size Adjectives List

  • Big
  • Small
  • Large
  • Tiny
  • Huge
  • Short
  • Tall
  • Massive
  • Petite
  • Enormous

Time Adjectives List

  • Early
  • Late
  • Modern
  • Ancient
  • Old
  • New
  • Current
  • Future
  • Past
  • Recent

Sound Adjectives List

  • Loud
  • Quiet
  • Noisy
  • Silent
  • Musical
  • Harsh
  • Soft
  • Melodic
  • High-pitched
  • Low-pitched

Touch Adjectives List

  • Soft
  • Rough
  • Smooth
  • Sticky
  • Slippery
  • Hard
  • Fuzzy
  • Silky
  • Bumpy
  • Warm

Common Adjectives List

List of Food Adjectives

Savory Salty Chewy
Sweet Sour Crispy
Spicy Rich Juicy
Tangy Creamy Tender
Bitter Flaky Crumbly

Spanish Adjectives to describe a person

Amable Simpático Amistoso
Generoso Divertido Cariñoso
Inteligente Valiente Sensible
Gracioso Honesto Creativo
Guapo/Bonito Trabajador Alegre

Funny Adjectives

Wacky Bizarre Nutty
Goofy Kooky Hilarious
Silly Absurd Outlandish
Quirky Whimsical Eccentric
Zany Ludicrous Comical

Personality Adjectives

Outgoing Independent Determined
Introverted Ambitious Creative
Comments Common Enthusiastic
Humble Optimistic Open-minded
Reliable Pessimistic Critical

"Personality

List of Opposite Adjectives

Here are some examples of opposite adjectives:

Adjective Opposite
Hot Cold
Big Small
Tall Short
Fast Slow
Heavy Light
Bright Dark
Young Old
Rich Poor
Thick Thin
Hard Soft
Loud Quiet
Happy Sad
Brave Cowardly
Clean Dirty
Strong Weak
Smart Stupid
Dry Wet
Open Closed
Expensive Cheap
Fresh Stale

Positive Adjectives and Negative Adjectives List

List of Common Positive Adjectives

Happy Creative Compassionate
Generous Wise Joyful
Kind Honest Grateful
Brave Trustworthy Humble
Confuse Loyal Optimistic

Negative Adjectives

Bad Sad Terrible
Ugly Stupid Annoying
Nasty Dirty Horrible
Angry Rude Gross
Boring Awful Dull

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is an Adjective?

An adjective is a part of speech that is used to describe or modify a noun or a pronoun. They are used to provide additional information about a noun or pronoun’s size, color, shape, age, origin, material, or other qualities.

What are the types of Adjective?

Type 1 Type 2
Descriptive Adjective Quantitative Adjective
Demonstrative Adjective Possessive Adjective
Interrogative Adjective Distributive Adjective
Proper Adjective Compound Adjective

Which are the Adjectives To Describe a Person?

  • Kind: Caring and nice to others.
  • Honest: Speak truth always.
  • Brave: Not afraid of any danger

Related Resources:

Grammar

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