adjectiveadj.n.
/ˈadʒᵻktɪv/, U.S. /ˈædʒəktɪv/ A. adj.
1.
a. Grammar. That is an adjective (sense B. 1a).Frequently as postmodifier in early use, chiefly in noun adjective (see noun adjective n.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > adjective > [adjective]
adjectivea1398
adjectival1647
adjective1706
adnominal1860
noun–adjective1921
gradable1937
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. i. x. 48 Somme nounes adiectif tokeneþ pureliche þe essenciam of God... And somme nounes adiectif tokeneth somwhat elles.
c1450 in D. Thomson Middle Eng. Grammatical Texts (1984) 32 How many maner of nounes be ther? Tweyne: noun adiectyf and noune substantyf... How knowest the comparatyf degre? A noun adiectyf that bytokenyth qualite or quantite wyth sumwhat echyng, as ‘betyr’, ‘werse’.
1578 J. Florio Firste Fruites f. 121 The Adiectiue names, are al, either of one voyce alone, or of two.
1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts f. 2 Q. How many sorts of Nounes haue you? A. Two: a Noune..Substantive, and a Noune..Adjectiue... [A noun adjective is that which] cannot stand by itselfe..without the helpe of an other word to make it plaine.
1710 tr. P. Bayle Hist. & Crit. Dict. I. 66/1 (note) The Fountain was not call'd so in a proper Substantive or substantified Name; but by way of Epithet, or of an adjective Name.
1754 B. Martin Introd. Eng. Lang. & Learning ii. 113 They might very well be classed under the Head of Adjective Nouns.
1834 J. P. Cobbett Lat. Gram. i. 3 Those which I have described as Adjectives they call Adjective Nouns.
1875 W. D. Whitney Life & Growth Lang. vi. 103 The variation of an adjective word for gender and number and case.
1935 Rep. Cambr. Anthropol. Exped. to Torres Straits 74 The negative can only be used in adjective form, with nole preceding and kak following the verb-stem.
1989 A. Murtonen Hebrew in West Semitic Setting i. 451 Cardinal numbers under 100 have inflectional endings formally like those of adjective nouns.
2006 C. J. Blakemore & B. W. Ramirez Baby Read-aloud Basics v. 91 There are some imaginative adjective words used to describe fish.
b. Grammar. Of or relating to an adjective or adjectives; adjectival.Later uses may represent examples of the noun used attributively (in sense B. 1a).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > adjective > [adjective]
adjectivea1398
adjectival1647
adjective1706
adnominal1860
noun–adjective1921
gradable1937
1706 Eng. Scholar Compl. 20 English Latin Adjective Endings are chiefly these, viz. ine, as, Columbine, in al or ical as, Corporeal, comical, [etc.].
1831 Gentleman's Mag. June 500/1 The adjective endings, some and ful, as in frolicsome, merciful, &c. have been neglected.
1859 W. Thomson Outl. Laws of Thought 55 Every verb may be resolved into an adjective-notion..as, for example, ‘he loved’ is explained by ‘he was—loving,’ ‘he hopes’ by ‘he is—hoping.’
1881 W. D. Whitney Mixt. in Lang. 23 What is the relation of genitive-position in a given tongue to adjective-position?
1920 A. E. Ball Child's Own Eng. Bk. I. 86 Play a game similar to the one which you played with noun-groups, adjective-groups, and verb-groups.
1954 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 20 6/2 The adjective stem sán little..does not show number when it occurs with noun stems.
1991 R. Lederer Miracle of Lang. i. 27 English possesses a fairly simple, stripped-down apparatus of grammar unencumbered by complex noun and adjective inflections.
c. Used euphemistically in place of an expletive adjective. Cf. adjectival adj. 3, adjectived adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [adjective] > euphemisms for stronger oaths
adjective1851
something1859
adjectived1869
qualified1886
epitheted1896
adj.1903
jiggering1903
adjectival1907
jeezly1908
blerry1920
bluggy1921
somethinged1922
socking1941
bleeping1957
naffing1959
1851 C. Dickens On Duty with Inspector Field in Househ. Words 14 June 270/1 I won't, says Bark, have no adjective police and adjective strangers in my adjective premises! I won't, by adjective and substantive!
1868 Colonial Monthly July 396 Now, then, you—adjective—new chums, do you think you're in London?
1894 Idler Feb. 102 To know where the adjective blazes they are going.
1900 E. Wells Chestnuts 29 Now..we must have some (adjective) fun.
1923 C. Kernahan Celebrities (new ed.) xi. 180 To you (adjective) photographers, as to Him who made you..all things are possible.
2005 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 2 Dec. (Business section) 27 He looked me up and down and said ‘What are you going back to England for? You're a [adjective] idiot.’
2. Esp. of a person: dependent, subordinate; contingent upon or connected to someone or something else.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > [adjective] > dependent
tributaryc1412
appendant1598
dependent1620
adjective1640
depending1705
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [adjective] > dependent
adjective1640
dependenta1643
1640 N. Richards Trag. Messallina iii. i. sig. D3v A man that truly sensative well knowes, Vertue to be but meerely adjective.
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie iii. sig. Mmm The People, the most Adjective of any that we have met with hitherto; able at no time to stand by themselves.
1853 G. Grote Hist. Greece XI. ii. lxxxv. 257 The women were treated on both sides as adjective beings.
1893 W. Renton Outl. Eng. Lit. 78 Hooker..has not the weight or the velocity, the depth or the brilliance of Bacon. He is one of the adjective men of the literature.
1969 W. H. Auden City without Walls 34 A life without cumber, as pastors adjective to rustic flocks, as organists in trollopish cathedral towns.
1992 K. Hastrup Other Hist. Introd. 5 Anthropologists have realized that culture and history are adjective to one another.
3. Law. Designating laws of procedure used by courts to administer legal rights defined by substantive law (see substantive adj. 4a).The commoner term is now procedural.
ΚΠ
1782 J. Bentham Let. 3 June in Corr. (1971) III. 126 The law of procedure or adjective law as it may be called, and the substantive, or that to which the adjective is subsidiary.
1808 J. Bentham Sc. Reform 5 The system of procedure, or adjective branch of the law.
1870 Daily News 12 May Law may be divided into Law and Procedure; Law Substantive and Law Adjective.
1920 Contemp. Rev. May 755 The Court..has perfect freedom to deal with questions of substantive and procedural (or adjective) law.
1996 A. F. Sheppard Evidence (rev. ed.) i. 219 The law of evidence is invariably described as adjective rather than substantive law.
4. Dyeing. Of a dye or colour: impermanent without an added basis or mordant. Cf. substantive adj. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > colouring > colouring matter > [adjective] > yielding dye > fixed dye > not fixed
adjective1794
loose1844
wash-off1864
1794 E. Bancroft Exper. Res. Philos. Permanent Colours vii. 169 Alterants, whose use and application may in this respect be extended to substantive as well as to adjective colours.
1807 A. Aikin & C. R. Aikin Dict. Chem. & Mineral. I. 390/1 Adjective colours are sometimes mixed with their proper mordant.
1876 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 13 Oct. 976/1 The colours which are adjective to wool, are—Logwood, the red and yellow woods, flavine, turmeric, madder [etc.].
1908 C. Mayer tr. G. Zerr & R. Rübencamp Treat. Colour Manuf. d. ii. v. 518 The various methods known or recommended for precipitating the adjective colours may vary in detail.
1958 W. Willetts Chinese Art I. iv. 241 The Han dyes..were adjective dyes, in that they required mordants to bring out their colours and render them insoluble.
2002 Backwoods Home Mag. Nov. 70/3 Adjective dyes will rapidly fade or wash out unless a mordant is used.
B. n.
1. † b. euphemistic. An expletive adjective. Obsolete. rare.
a. Grammar. A word or lexical unit which designates an attribute and qualifies a noun (or pronoun) so as to describe it more fully; (with the) the category of such words.In older grammars more commonly known as a noun adjective (see noun adjective n.).demonstrative, participial, possessive adjective, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > adjective > [noun]
noun adjectivea1398
adjectivec1400
adject1584
nounc1620
adj.1656
adnoun1657
adname1710
A1735
attributive1860
adjectival1866
commonization1973
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. iv. l. 338 Adiectif and substantyf vnite asken, Acordaunce in kynde, in cas and in numbre.
c1450 in D. Thomson Middle Eng. Grammatical Texts (1984) 178 How many acordys hast thou in grammer? Foure... The secunde bytwene the adiectyf and the substantyf.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure v. x A nowne substantyve Might stand wythout helpe of an adjectyve.
1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. vi. i. 93 In Epithets to ioyne two words in one, Forsooth for Adiectiues can not stand alone.
c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) vi. 30 Al nounes that wil join with a substantive ar called adjectives; as, gud, high, hard [etc.].
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. viii. 230 Our simple Ideas have all abstract, as well as concrete Names: The one whereof is..a Substantive, the other an Adjective; as Whiteness, White; Sweetness, Sweet.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Positive Degree of Comparison in Grammar, is that which signifies the Thing simply and absolutely, without comparing it with others; it belongs only to Adjectives.
1788 J. Edwards Observ. Lang. Muhhekaneew Indians 11 The Mohegans have no adjectives in all their language.
1801 Monthly Mag. 12 403 Adjectives in ive, as communicative, conducive, expressive..bear to the participles present..the relation of habituality to actuality.
1860 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. xiv. 311 The only striking peculiarity of the English adjective..is its invariability, or its want of distinct forms for different cases, genders and numbers.
1921 G. W. Tyrrell in Geol. Mag. 58 501 The adjective psephitic usefully describes the metamorphic rocks derived from the metamorphism of conglomerates.
1960 N. Coward Diary 7 Mar. (2000) 430 I read it right through from the beginning, cutting out adjectives, adverbs and redundancies.
2008 J. Diaz Miami Manhunt viii. 75 I also think Ray packs one too many adjectives like ‘visceral’, ‘white-hot’ and ‘high-octane’ in his movie reviews.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [noun] > euphemisms for stronger oaths
minced oath?1654
blank1854
adjective1888
bee1926
muck1952
F-word1956
C-word1979
N-word1985
XXXX1985
F-bomb1987
1888 R. Kipling Soldiers Three 66 They..slept till it was cool enough to go out with their ‘towny’, whose vocabulary contained less than six hundred words, and the Adjective.
2. A dependent person or thing; an accessory. Now rare.Frequently with overtones of sense B. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > accompaniment > [noun] > that which accompanies
purtenancea1382
accessory1429
retinue?a1439
accessaryc1475
companion1533
annexe?1541
hanger-ona1555
supply1567
copemate1581
complement1586
fere1593
adjective1597
annexment1604
annexary1605
attendant1607
adherence1610
adjacent1610
wife1616
fellower1620
coincident1626
attendancy1654
associate1658
appanage1663
conjunct1667
perquisite1667
familiar1668
satellite1702
accompaniment1709
accompanying1761
side dish1775
obbligato1825
shadow1830
rider1859
gadget1917
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [noun] > subservient
adjective1597
subordinate1638
subservient1643
sideshow1846
1597 G. Harvey Trimming T. Nashe sig. c3v Thou scabbed, scalde, lame, halting adiectiue as thou art,..thou neuer hadest that guile as alone to get thee one crust of breade.
1597 T. Middleton Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. xiii. sig. Q3v A wall it is it selfe, yet wall with wall, Hath great supportance bearing either part, The image like an adiectiue would fall, Were it not closed with an yron hart.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre v. xviii. 260 Subjects should be Adjectives, not able to stand without (much lesse against) their Prince.
1658 F. Osborne Mem. Reigns Elizabeth & James (1673) 516 Those Northern Adjectives, not able to subsist without England.
1680 R. L'Estrange State & Interest of Nation 12 How should..a State that must necessarily be the meer Adjective of an Army, become a Substantive?
1801 H. Fuseli Lect. Painting I. ii. 80 In Parmegiano's figures action is the adjective of the posture.
1903 Proc. Aristotelian Soc. 3 35 Sentient perception or experience has reality as an adjective of the real.
Compounds
C1.
adjective-forming adj.
ΚΠ
1864 Ann. Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst. 1863 Gen App. 99 A study of the other forms of our language..shows it [sc. the suffix -ly] to be descended from the adjective like, which has been used in all the languages of our family as an adjective-forming suffix.
1972 Language 48 335 The noun-forming affix -al in refusal, acquittal is stress-neutral, while the adjective-forming affix -al in theatrical, autumnal is not.
2010 M. J. Endley Ling. Perspectives on Eng. Gram. iii. 86 As with nouns, there are several adjective-forming suffixes that can be usefully introduced to student.
C2. Grammar.
adjective clause n. a clause whose head is an adjective; cf. noun phrase n. at noun n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic unit or constituent > [noun] > clause > other specific types of clause
clausulec1449
protasis1588
illative1604
apodosisa1638
incident proposition1725
subordinate clause1809
subclause1823
adjective clause1834
subject clause1840
nominative absolute1843
that-clause1845
head clause1915
contact-clause1927
content clause1927
wh-clause1957
1834 J. M. McCulloch Man. Eng. Gram. iii. 138 An Adjective clause is a clause introduced by an adjective,..as, ‘A boy, attentive to his studies, is sure to excel’.
1878 A. Reed & B. Kellogg Higher Lessons in Eng. 98 The Adjective Clause, when not restrictive, is set off by the comma.
1904 C. T. Onions Adv. Eng. Syntax §62 Adjective Clauses are introduced by Relative Pronouns.., Relative Adjectives.., or Relative Adverbs.., referring to a noun or noun-equivalent called the Antecedent, expressed or implied in the Principal Clause.
2008 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) (Nexis) 9 Sept. (Youngpost) 7 It is possible to combine two sentences into one with an adjective clause.
adjective compound n. (a) a compound that functions as an adjective; (b) a compound consisting of two or more adjectives.
ΚΠ
1835 W. Alexander Corderii Colloquia 73 Utērque, an adjective compound of the first, and three terminations.
1847 M. J. G. de la Voye New Compar. French Gram. xvi. 313 Where two adjectives are combined in forming an adjective-compound, both adjectives vary, according to the gender and number of the noun to which they refer.
1914 R. P. Utter Guide Good Eng. i. i. 29 Any two or more words (except those which form a proper name in themselves) joined to form an adjective-compound are joined by hyphens; as, special-rate ticket, soon-forgotten favors, up-country dialect, up-to-date affair, end-of-the-century swagger.
1975 K. Croft in M. D. Kinkade et al. Ling. & Anthropol. in Honor of C. F. Voegelin 89 A typical position for an adjective compound in English sentences is that of a modifier immediately before a noun.
adjective phrase n. a phrase whose head is an adjective.
ΚΠ
1794 Chambaud's Gram. French Tongue (ed. 11) 246 The predicate of such phrases is always either a mere adjective, or an adjective phrase, that is, a whole sentence, or a substantive used adjectively.
1904 W. H. Maxwell Elem. Gram. v. 66 When a phrase is used, like the adjective, to modify a noun or pronoun, it is called an adjective phrase.
2003 New Yorker 31 Mar. 78/3 A language is considered ‘head first’ if the ‘head’ of a phrase—the noun in a noun phrase, the adjective in an adjective phrase—comes first.
Derivatives
ˈadjectiveless adj.
ΚΠ
1886 Harper's Mag. Aug. 377 The three chief commanders of the Cunard Line at present were once described thus: a sailor, a social sailor, and a calico sailor... The simple sailor who is put at the head of the list, and is left adjectiveless, is Captain Cook.
1966 Bks. Abroad 40 91/2 [He] employs styles that range from poetry to puzzle. He is fond of verbless, prepositionless, adjectiveless sentences.
2003 M. C. Baker Lexical Categories iv. 248 Chichewa is not an adjectiveless language.
ˈadjective-like adj.
ΚΠ
1921 A. M. Tozzer in Papers Peabody Mus. IX. 95 These adjective-like forms have been put into a class by themselves in the treatment of the verb as their past tenses are made in a different way from that used in regular intransitive forms.
1957 College Eng. 18 352/1 Several rather distinct subcategories of adverbs should be noted. Adjective-like words in -ly form one.
2008 F. Rainer in F. Fradin & D. Corbin La Raison Morphologique 186 It may well be that such uses, which it seems best to treat as conversions, are facilitated by the adjective-like ending of the nouns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
adjectivev.
/ˈadʒᵻktɪv/, U.S. /ˈædʒəktɪv/ 1. transitive. Grammar. To use as an adjective; to change or form into an adjective; = adjectivize v.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > adjective > furnish with an adjective [verb (transitive)] > form into an adjective
adjective1802
adjectivize1848
1802 Evangelical Mag. Sept. 350 The noun wonderful..would be better rendered..by adjectiving it, and reading it wonderful counsellor.
1805 J. H. Tooke Επεα Πτεροεντα (ed. 2) II. vi. 452 Such words..would have been much better and more properly obtained by adjectiving our own words.
1871 J. Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue vii. 341 Clough took the liberty of thus adjectiving Lord Macaulay..‘I have only detected one error myself, but it is a very Macaulayesque one.’
1906 E. Jacottet Pract. Method to learn Sesuto xviii. 73 A very large number of nouns may be, so to say, adjectived in the same way.
1982 J. Kaminsky Ess. Ling. Ontol. viii. 163 We could..change names into predicates by ‘adjectiving’ them, that is, by giving them predicate suffixes.
2004 M. Hoey in G. Aston et al. Corpora & Lang. Learners 24 So routinely do we adjective our nouns that we see it as entirely normal.
2. transitive (chiefly in passive). To qualify or describe using an adjective or adjectives.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > adjective > furnish with an adjective [verb (transitive)]
adjective1804
1804 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 12 335 Vaccine, French, is from Latin:..Milk is by Pliny adjectived with the word, lac vaccinum.
1836 Champion 6 Nov. 61/4 A friend of ours calls his ‘Sublime and Beautiful’, the ‘Ridiculous and Ugly’, and his political career might be similarly adjectived.
1882 Amer. Naturalist June 486 The noun force..is usually adjectived by the words ‘potential’ and ‘kinetic’.
1915 E. Ferber in Cosmopolitan Aug. 308/1 Its [sc. Upper Fifth Avenue's] furs and millinery, its eyes and figure..have been adjectived in reams of Sunday-supplement stories.
1990 G. Taylor Reinventing Shakespeare i. 46 Shakespeare is adjectived, increasingly often, as ‘Immortal’, ‘Godlike’, and ‘Divine’.
3. transitive. euphemistic. To swear at (a person, animal, or thing). Also occasionally intransitive: to swear. Cf. adjective adj. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > [verb (transitive)] > swear or use profanity
waryc1000
spew?c1225
flavour1542
vomit1592
spawl1640
cuss1831
explete1902
adjective1906
1906 Amer. Machinist 17 Mar. 270/2 They scowled at it. They adjectived it. And at last..the trick was done.
1920 Sunday at Home Apr. 423/2 In her place I think I should have ‘adjectived’ a good deal more.
2003 Bks. Ireland Oct. 250/3 Every fare is an asshole, and most get adjectived with s and f and c.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.a1398
v.1802