What are descriptive adjectives? How do they work? What are words that we can use to help us be more descriptive? These are all great questions. Adjectives help us to modify nouns. And assist in describing the world around us. Learn everything you need to know about descriptive adjectives in this comprehensive guide.
What Are Descriptive Adjectives?
An adjective is any word that’s used to modify a noun. There are different kinds of adjectives, of which descriptive adjectives are the most common. A descriptive adjective is a word that’s used to describe a noun. Specifically, they are words that describe a place, a person, or a thing. Descriptive adjectives can add clarity as well as detail to a sentence.
With descriptive adjectives, you can add more meaning to your sentence. A descriptive adjective can be a color, a size, a shape, as well as other descriptive details.
‘She was an adorable girl.’ Here, the word ‘adorable’ is a descriptive adjective that describes what kind of a girl the subject is.
Another example would be, ‘That’s a beautiful house.’ Here, the adjective ‘beautiful’ describes what kind of a house is being spoken of.
Order of Descriptive Adjectives
You should have some idea of what the descriptive adjective definition is. You can use just one adjective in your sentence or several of them. Multiple adjectives can be used to describe the same noun. In such cases, it’s common to find commas separating the adjectives.
Even if you haven’t studied the order of descriptive adjectives in detail, if you’re a native English speaker, you will still be able to tell when the adjectives are placed out of order.
Order of Descriptive Adjectives
Multiple adjectives can be used to describe the same noun. In these cases, it’s common to find commas separating the adjectives.
Even if you haven’t studied the order of descriptive adjectives in detail, if you’re a native English speaker, you will still be able to tell when the adjectives are placed out of order. The sentence is likely to ‘sound wrong’ to you.
These should also be placed according to the order of adjectives. The order of adjectives is given below:
- Demonstrative/quantitative adjectives
- Quality/opinion
- Size
- Age
- Shape
- Color
- Origin/proper adjectives
- Purpose
Even when using just descriptive adjectives, you’ll still need to follow the order of adjectives.
Types of Descriptive Adjectives
By now, you should know a little about descriptive adjectives. But what exactly are the words that are considered descriptive adjectives? You can break down the list of descriptive adjectives into three categories:
- Simple adjectives
- Compound adjectives
- Proper adjectives
Now let’s look at examples of these descriptive adjectivesindividually.
List of Descriptive Adjectives
By now, you should know a little about descriptive adjectives. But what exactly are the words that are considered descriptive adjectives? You can break down the list of descriptive adjectives into three categories:
- Simple adjectives
- Compound adjectives
- Proper adjectives
Now let’s look at examples of these descriptive adjectivesindividually.
Simple Descriptive Adjectives
A simple descriptive adjective is a primary adjective used to describe a noun. These kinds of adjectives are usually single words that aren’t proper nouns. You can also combine simple descriptive adjectives with other adjectives. Now let’s look at some examples of simple descriptive adjectives.
So, what are descriptive adjectivesexactly? An adjective is any word that’s used to modify a noun. There are different kinds of adjectives, of which descriptive adjectives are the most common. A descriptive adjective is a word that’s used to describe a noun. Specifically, they are words that describe a place, a person, or a thing. Descriptive adjectives can add clarity as well as detail to a sentence.
With descriptive adjectives, you can add more meaning to your sentence. A descriptive adjective can be a color, a size, a shape, as well as other descriptive details. Let’s look at some descriptive adjective examples to understand better what they are.
‘She was an adorable girl.’ Here, the word ‘adorable’ is a descriptive adjective that describes what kind of a girl the subject is. Another example would be, ‘That’s a beautiful house.’ Here, the adjective ‘beautiful’, describes what kind of a house is being spoken of.
Words Starting With A
- Attractive
- Adorable
- Aloof
- Alive
- Ashamed
- Amused
- Agreeable
- Adventurous
- Awful
- Anxious
- Arrogant
Words Starting With B
- Bad
- Black
- Beautiful
- Busy
- Bright
- Brown
- Blushing
- Blue
- Brave
Words Starting With C
- Calm
- Cautious
- Cheerful
- Charming
- Clean
- Clever
- Clear
- Clumsy
- Cooperative
- Creepy
- Cruel
- Crowded
Words Starting With D
- Disturbed
- Dull
- Dark
- Dangerous
- Delightful
- Difficult
- Drab
- Distinct
Words Starting With E
- Easy
- Eager
- Elegant
- Evil
- Expensive
- Embarrassed
- Energetic
- Enchanted
- Exciting
Words Starting With F
- Famous
- Faithful
- Foolish
- Fantastic
- Fragile
- Fine
- Filthy
- Fancy
- Funny
Words Starting With G
- Gifted
- Generous
- Glamorous
- Grumpy
- Gorgeous
- Good
- Gleaming
- Glorious
- Green
Words Starting With H
- Healthy
- Happy
- Homeless
- Helpless
- Hilarious
- Hurt
- Hungry
Words Starting With I
- Impossible
- Impromptu
- Important
- Innocent
- Itchy
- Inquiring
- Inexpensive
- Improvised
Words Starting With J
- Joyous
- Jittery
- Jealous
Words Starting With K
- Knightly
- Kind
Words Starting With L
- Long
- Lonely
- Lively
- Lazy
- Lucky
- Lovely
- Light
Words Starting With M
- Mysterious
- Mushy
- Muddy
- Modern
- Magnificent
Words Starting With N
- Nice
- Naughty
- Nervous
- Nutty
- Niche
Words Starting With O
- Open
- Odd
- Obnoxious
- Obedient
- Orange
- Outstanding
- Outrageous
Words Starting With P
- Poor
- Purple
- Proud
- Pleasant
- Puzzled
- Pink
- Poised
- Powerful
Words Starting With Q
- Quizzical
- Quaint
- Queer
Words Starting With R
- Repulsive
- Realistic
- Relieved
- Red
- Repelling
- Rich
- Repulsive
Words Starting With S
- Sore
- Shiny
- Scary
- Splendid
- Smiling
- Silly
- Spotted
- Selfish
Words Starting With T
- Tasty
- Talented
- Tough
- Tired
- Terse
- Troubling
Words Starting With U
- Upset
- Unusual
- Uninterested
- Ugly
- Uptight
Words Starting With V
- Victorious
- Vast
- Varied
Words Starting With W
- White
- Wandering
- Witty
- Wicked
- Wild
- Wide
- Weary
- Wrong
Words Starting With Y
- Young
- Yellow
Words Starting With Z
- Zealous
Compound Descriptive Adjectives
Now, it’s time to learn about descriptive adjectives that are compound. These are adjectives where more than one word is used to describe the noun. Usually, compound adjectives are hyphenated.
Words Starting With B
- Broken-hearted
- Baby-faced
- Bull-headed
Words Starting With C
- Child-wanted
Words Starting With D
- Densely-populated
Words Starting With E
- English-speaking
Words Starting With F
- Full-time
- Freckle-faced
Words Starting With G
- Good-natured
Words Starting With H
- High-heeled
- Heavy-handed
- High-spirited
Words Starting With I
- Ice-cold
Words Starting With J
- Japanese-speaking
Words Starting With K
- Kind-hearted
Words Starting With L
- Long-lasting
- Life-giving
- Long-winded
Words Starting With M
- Mouth-watering
- Middle-aged
Words Starting With N
- Next-door
- Never-ending
Words Starting With O
- Old-fashioned
Words Starting With P
- Part-time
Words Starting With Q
- Queer-sounding
Words Starting With R
- Red-blooded
Words Starting With S
- Sure-footed
- Short-haired
- Self-centered
- Short-tempered
Words Starting With T
- Tight-fisted
- Thought-provoking
- Thick-skinned
Words Starting With U
- Ultra-beautiful
Words Starting With V
- View-point
Words Starting With W
- Well-read
- Well-known
- World-famous
Words Starting With Y
- Year-long
Words Starting With Z
- Zen-like
Proper Descriptive Adjectives
Finally, let’s look at proper descriptive adjectives. Note that nouns can also be used as proper adjectives sometimes.
Words Starting With A
- American
- Alpine
- Asian
- Arthurian
Words Starting With B
- Brazilian
Words Starting With C
- Christian
- Chinese
Words Starting With D
- Darwinian
- Dutch
Words Starting With E
- European
- Euclidean
- Edwardian
Words Starting With F
- French
- Faustian
- Freudian
Words Starting With G
- German
- Gregorian
- Gandhian
Words Starting With H
- Hegelian
- Hungarian
- Hanoverian
- Hertzian
Words Starting With I
- Indian
- Ibsenian
Words Starting With J
- Julian
- Jungian
- Jeffersonian
Words Starting With K
- Kantian
- Keynesian
Words Starting With L
- Leibnitzian
- Lamarckian
Words Starting With M
- Martian
- Malthusian
- Machiavellian
Words Starting With N
- Nestorian
- Newtonian
- Noachian
Words Starting With O
- Orwellian
Words Starting With P
- Pavlovian
- Pasteurian
- Piagetian
- Plutonian
- Pretorian
Words Starting With R
- Rastafarian
- Riemannian
- Rooseveltian
Words Starting With S
- Spanish
- Shakespearean
Words Starting With T
- Thoreauvian
Words Starting With U
- Unchristian
Words Starting With V
- Voltairian
- Victorian
Words Starting With W
- Wagnerian
- Wordsworthian
- Wilsonian
Words Starting With Y
- Yeatsian
Words Starting With Z
- Zoroastrian
Descriptive Adjectives (images)
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