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adjective . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
adjective , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
adjective in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
adjective you have here. The definition of the word
adjective will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
adjective , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
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
IPA (key ) : /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/ , /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɛk.tɪv/ , /ˈæd͡ʒ.ək.tɪv/ , /ˈæd͡ʒ.ə.tɪv/
Noun
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 .
( obsolete ) A dependent ; an accessory .
1655 , Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge , since the Conquest , : Iohn Williams ] , →OCLC :it must be an adjective of dain
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
(grammar) a word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent
Afrikaans: byvoeglike naamwoord (af)
Albanian: mbiemër (sq) , adjektiv
Amharic: ቅጽል (am) ( ḳəṣl )
Arabic: نَعْت m ( naʕt ) , صِفَة (ar) f ( ṣifa )
Aragonese: adchectivo (an) m
Aramaic: גדשניא m ( gedšanāya )
Armenian: ածական (hy) ( acakan )
Assamese: please add this translation if you can
Asturian: axetivu (ast) m
Azerbaijani: sifət (az)
Bashkir: сифат ( sifat )
Basque: adjektibo , izenondo
Bavarian: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: прыме́тнік m ( prymjétnik )
Bengali: বিশেষণ (bn) ( biśeśon )
Bikol Central: panladawan , panmidbid
Bishnupriya Manipuri: please add this translation if you can
Breton: anv-gwan (br) m , adanv (br) m
Bulgarian: прилага́телно и́ме (bg) n ( prilagátelno íme ) , прилага́телно (bg) n ( prilagátelno )
Burmese: နာမဝိသေသန (my) ( nama.wi.sesa.na. )
Buryat: тэмдэгэй нэрэ ( temdegej nere )
Catalan: adjectiu (ca) m
Cebuano: please add this translation if you can
Chechen: билгалдош ( bilgaldoš )
Chinese:
Cantonese: 形容詞 / 形容词 ( jing4 jung4 ci4 )
Hokkien: 形容詞 / 形容词 ( hêng-iông-sû )
Mandarin: 形容詞 / 形容词 (zh) ( xíngróngcí )
Chuvash: паллӑ ячӗ ( pallă jač̬ĕ )
Cornish: hanow gwan m
Corsican: agettivu , aggettivu (co) , aghjettivu (co)
Crimean Tatar: sıfat
Czech: přídavné jméno (cs) n
Danish: adjektiv (da) n , egenskabsord n , tillægsord n
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: bijvoeglijk naamwoord (nl) n , adjectief (nl) n
Erzya: раствал ( rastval )
Esperanto: a-vorto (eo) , adjektivo (eo)
Estonian: omadussõna , adjektiiv (et)
Faroese: lýsingarorð (fo) n
Finnish: adjektiivi (fi) , laatusana (fi)
French: nom adjectif (fr) m , adjectif (fr) m
Old French: nons adjectyfs ( Anglo-Norman; in plural )
Friulian: agetîv
Galician: adxectivo (gl) m
Georgian: ზედსართავი სახელი ( zedsartavi saxeli )
German: Adjektiv (de) n , Eigenschaftswort (de) n , Beiwort (de) n , Wiewort (de) n , Beschreibungswort n
Greek: επίθετο (el) n ( epítheto )
Ancient: ἐπίθετον n ( epítheton ) , ἐπιθετικόν n ( epithetikón )
Greenlandic: pissusilerissut
Hausa: please add this translation if you can
Hawaiian: haʻiʻano
Hebrew: שֵׁם תּוֹאַר / שֵׁם תֹּאַר m ( shem to'ar )
Hindi: बिशेषण m ( biśeṣaṇ ) , विशेषण (hi) m ( viśeṣaṇ )
Hungarian: melléknév (hu)
Icelandic: lýsingarorð (is) n
Ido: adjektivo (io)
Indonesian: kata sifat (id) , adjektiva (id) , kata keadaan (id)
Interlingua: adjectivo (ia)
Irish: aidiacht (ga) f
Italian: aggettivo (it) m
Japanese: 形容詞 (ja) ( けいようし, keiyōshi ) ( for "い" ending in Japanese, and translation for "adjective" in other languages ) , 形容動詞 (ja) ( けいようどうし, keiyō-dōshi ) ( for "だ/な" ending )
Javanese: tembung kahanan , tembung sipat
Kannada: ವಿಶೇಷಣ (kn) ( viśēṣaṇa )
Kashmiri: باوُت ( bāvut )
Kashubian: przëdownik m
Kazakh: сын есім ( syn esım )
Khmer: គុណនាម (km) ( kunaʼniəm ) , វិសេសន (km) ( viseesaʼnaʼ )
Korean: 형용사(形容詞) (ko) ( hyeong'yongsa )
Kyrgyz: сын атооч (ky) ( sın atooc )
Lao: ຄຳຄຸນນາມ ( kham khun nām )
Latin: (nōmen ) adiectīvum n
Latvian: īpašības vārds (lv) m , adjektīvs (lv) m
Limburgish: bievooglik naamwaord n
Lingala: likonzámí
Lithuanian: būdvardis (lt) m
Low German:
German Low German: Adjektiv
Luganda: please add this translation if you can
Luxembourgish: Adjektiv (lb) n
Macedonian: придавка f ( pridavka )
Malay: kata sifat (ms) , kata keadaan , adjektif (ms)
Malayalam: നാമവിശേഷണം (ml) ( nāmaviśēṣaṇaṁ )
Maltese: aġġettiv (mt)
Manx: marennym m
Maori: kupuāhua
Marathi: विशेषण n ( viśeṣaṇa )
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: тэмдэг нэр (mn) ( temdeg ner ) , тэмдэг үг ( temdeg üg ) ( China )
Mongolian: ᠲᠡᠮᠳᠡᠭ ᠨᠡᠷᠡ ( temdeg ner-e ) , ᠲᠡᠮᠳᠡᠭ ᠦᠭᠡ ( temdeg üge )
Nepali: विशेषण (ne) ( viśeṣaṇ )
Norman: adjectif m ( Jersey )
Northern Sami: adjektiiva
Norwegian:
Bokmål: adjektiv (no) n , eigenskapsord n , tilleggsord n
Nynorsk: adjektiv (nn) n , eigenskapsord n , tilleggsord n
Occitan: adjectiu (oc) m
Odia: ବିଶେଷଣ (or) ( biśeshaṇa )
Old English: tōġeīecendlīċ
Pali: visesana m
Pannonian Rusyn: прикметнїк m ( prikmetnjik )
Pashto: صفت (ps) m ( sefat )
Persian:
Dari: صِفَت ( sifat )
Iranian Persian: صِفَت ( sefat )
Plautdietsch: Ieejenschoftswuat n
Polish: przymiotnik (pl) m inan , adiektyw m ( uncommon )
Portuguese: adjetivo (pt)
Quechua: sutip rampaqnin
Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
Romani:
Kalo Finnish Romani: adjektiivos
Romanian: adjectiv (ro) n
Romansch: adjectiv
Russian: и́мя прилага́тельное (ru) n ( ímja prilagátelʹnoje ) , прилага́тельное (ru) n ( prilagátelʹnoje )
Rwanda-Rundi: please add this translation if you can
Sanskrit: विशेषण (sa) m ( viśeṣaṇa )
Scottish Gaelic: buadhair m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ( Ekavian ) при́дев m , ( Ijekavian ) при́дјев m
Roman: ( Ekavian ) prídev m , ( Ijekavian ) prídjev (sh) m
Sicilian: aggittivi
Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: prídavné meno (sk) n
Slovene: pridevnik (sl) m
Somali: please add this translation if you can
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: adjektiw m
Upper Sorbian: adjektiw m
Southern Altai: јарталгыш ( ǰartalgïš )
Spanish: adjetivo (es) m
Sundanese: adjéktif
Swahili: kivumishi , sifa (sw)
Swedish: adjektiv (sv) n , egenskapsord (sv) n , tilläggsord n
Tagalog: pang-uri (tl)
Tajik: сифат (tg) ( sifat )
Tamil: உரிச்சொல் (ta) ( uriccol )
Tatar: сыйфат (tt) ( sıyfat )
Telugu: విశేషణము (te) ( viśēṣaṇamu )
Thai: คุณศัพท์ (th) ( kun-ná-sàp ) , วิเศษณ์ (th) ( wí-sèet ) , นามวิเศษณ์
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: sıfat (tr) , önad (tr)
Turkmen: sypat (tk)
Ukrainian: прикме́тник (uk) m ( prykmétnyk )
Urdu: صِفَت (ur) f ( sifat ) , بِشیشَن m ( biśeśan )
Uyghur: سۈپەت ( süpet )
Uzbek: sifat (uz)
Vietnamese: tính từ (vi) , hình dung từ
Volapük: ladyek (vo)
Võro: umahussyna
Walloon: addjectif (wa)
Welsh: ansoddair (cy) m
West Frisian: eigenskipswurd (fy) n
Wolof: please add this translation if you can
Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
Yiddish: אַדיעקטיוו (yi) m ( adyektiv )
Zazaki: sıfet (diq) , vername (diq)
Zulu: isiphawulo (zu) class 7 /8
Adjective
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
Translations
incapable of independent function
methods of enforcement and rules of procedure
of a dye that needs the use of a mordant
Verb
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 [ …]
( transitive , chiefly as a participle) To characterize with an adjective; to describe by using an adjective.
Synonyms
Translations
See also
(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
Pronunciation
Adjective
adjective
feminine singular of adjectif
Latin
Adjective
adjectīve
vocative masculine singular of adjectīvus
Portuguese
Verb
adjective
inflection of adjectivar :
first / third-person singular present subjunctive
third-person singular imperative
Romanian
Pronunciation
Noun
adjective
plural of adjectiv
Scots
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Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium .)
From Latin (nomen ) adjectivum .
Noun
adjective (plural adjectives )
( grammar ) adjective