Adjectives

What is an adjective?
Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, making your writing and speaking
much more specific, and a whole lot more interesting. Words like small, blue, and sharp are
descriptive, and they are all examples of adjectives. Because adjectives are used to identify or
quantify individual people and unique things, they are usually positioned before
the noun or pronoun that they modify. Some sentences contain multiple adjectives.

Adjective Examples
In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:
1. They live in a big, beautiful
2. Since it’s a hot day, Lisa is wearing a sleeveless
3. The mountaintops are covered in sparkling
4. On her birthday, Brenda received an antique vase filled with fragrant
Types of Adjectives
Remember that adjectives can modify as well as describe other words, and you’ll find it much
easier to identify different types of adjectives when you see them.
Articles
There are only three articles, and all of them are adjectives: a, an, and the. Because they are used
to discuss non-specific things and people, a and an are called indefinite articles. For example:
 I’d like a
 Let’s go on an
Neither one of these sentences names a specific banana or a certain adventure. Without more
clarification, any banana or adventure will do.
The word the is called the definite article. It’s the only definite article, and it is used to indicate
very specific people or things:
 Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.
 Let’s go on an adventure. The Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!
Possessive Adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:
 My
 Your
 His
 Her
 Its
 Our
 Their
Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.
Demonstrative Adjectives
Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific people,
animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.
 These books belong on that
 This movie is my favorite.
 Please put those cookies on the blue plate.
Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are separated with commas or the word and, and appear one after another
to modify the same noun. The adjectives in the phrase bright, sunny day and long and dark night
are coordinate adjectives. In phrases with more than two coordinate adjectives, the
word and always appears before the last one; for example: The sign had big, bold, and
bright letters.
Be careful, because some adjectives that appear in a series are not coordinate. In the phrase green
delivery truck, the words green and delivery are not separated by a comma
because green modifies the phrase delivery truck. To eliminate confusion when determining
whether a pair or group of adjectives is coordinate, just insert the word and between them.
If and works, then the adjectives are coordinate and need to be separated with a comma.
Numbers Adjectives
When they’re used in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a
number is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”
 The stagecoach was pulled by a team of six
 He ate 23 hotdogs during the contest, and was sick afterwards.
Interrogative Adjectives
There are three interrogative adjectives: which, what, and whose. Like all other types of
adjectives, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. As you probably know, all three of these
words are used to ask questions.
 Which option sounds best to you?
 What time should we go?
 Whose socks are those?
 Indefinite Adjectives
Like the articles a and an, indefinite adjectives are used to discuss non-specific things. You
might recognize them, since they’re formed from indefinite pronouns. The most common
indefinite adjectives are any, many, no, several, and few.
 Do we have any peanut butter?
 Grandfather has been retired for many
 There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
 I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
 We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.
Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives talk about specific traits, qualities, or features – in other words, they are
used to discuss attributes. There are different kinds of attributive adjectives:
 Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting, beautiful or cheapest can indicate
value or talk about subjective measures.
 Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities including specific physical
properties. Some examples include small, large, square, round, poor, wealthy, slow and
 Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general ages. Examples are old,
young, new, five-year-old, and
 Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that indicate color.
Examples include pink, yellow, blue, and
 Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person, place, animal or thing.
Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican, French.
 Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples include cotton, gold,
wool, and
 Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more specific;
examples include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.
Adjective Exercises
Find the adjective or adjectives that fit in each of the blanks best.
1. We visited the museum, where we saw ____________ artifacts.
A. A lot of
B. Ancient
C. John’s
D. A room filled with
2. I received ______________ awards at the ceremony today.
A. The manager’s
B. Two
C. Information about
D. Motivation at the
3. Please get me a bag of ____________ apples.
A. Interesting
B. Ripe red
C. Oranges and
D. Real
4. The president sat in a _______________ chair.
A. Important
B. Barber’s
 C. Funny
D. Leather
5. ________________ weather is the norm in San Francisco.
A. Blue
B. Big
C. Foggy
D. The best
Answer Key:
1. A – We visited the museum, where we saw ancient artifacts.
2. B – I received two awards at the ceremony today.
3. B – Please get me a bag of ripe red apples.
4. D – The president sat in a leather chair.
5. C – Foggy weather is the norm in San Francisco.
Are you ready to keep learning how to use adjectives? Visit the adjective exercises page for more
practice.

Examples of Adjectives
Where would we be without adjectives? How would we describe a pretty flower or enjoy
an enchanting evening? Simply put, adjectives add further description to nouns. More
specifically, they provide flourish to the English language, an added dose of color.
When we spend some time examining examples of adjectives, we, too, can electrify our writing
with the appropriate injection of adjectival beauty. Ready to have some fun? Then let's dive right
into these deep, blue waters.
Popular Adjectives
Adjectives describe, identify, or further define nouns and pronouns, there are thousands of these
descriptive words at our disposal.
We've broken them up into lists of adjective according to various functions i.e. their ability to
describe touch, color, shape, and emotion.
Even though these adjective lists are quite extensive, they're merely scratching the surface of the
descriptive capabilities of the English language. That's why reading is such a gift. The more we
read, the more we add to our vocabulary. In the meantime, here's a large selection to whet your
adjectival appetite.
To Describe Taste
Bitter Lemon-flavored Spicy
Bland Minty Sweet
Delicious Pickled Tangy
Fruity Salty Tasty
Gingery Sour Yummy
To Describe Touch
Boiling Fluffy Sharp
 Breezy Freezing Silky
Bumpy Fuzzy Slick
Chilly Greasy Slimy
Cold Hard Slippery
Cool Hot Smooth
Cuddly Icy Soft
Damp Loose Solid
Dirty Melted Sticky
Dry Painful Tender
Dusty Prickly Tight
Encrusted Rough Uneven
Filthy Shaggy Warm
Flaky Shaky Wet
To Describe Sound
Blaring Melodic Screeching
Deafening Moaning Shrill
Faint Muffled Silent
Hoarse Mute Soft
High-pitched Noisy Squealing
Hissing Purring Squeaking
Hushed Quiet Thundering
Husky Raspy Voiceless
Loud Resonant Whispering
To Describe Color
Azure Gray Pinkish
Black Green Purple
Blue Indigo Red
Bright Lavender Rosy
Brown Light Scarlet
 Crimson Magenta Silver
Dark Multicolored Turquoise
Drab Mustard Violet
Dull Orange White
Gold Pink Yellow
To Describe Size
Abundant Jumbo Puny
Big-boned Large Scrawny
Chubby Little Short
Fat Long Small
Giant Majestic Tall
Gigantic Mammoth Teeny
Great Massive Thin
Huge Miniature Tiny
Immense Petite Vast
To Describe Shape
Blobby Distorted Rotund
Broad Flat Round
Chubby Fluffy Skinny
Circular Globular Square
Crooked Hollow Steep
Curved Low Straight
Cylindrical Narrow Triangular
Deep Oval Wide
To Describe Time
Annual Futuristic Rapid
Brief Historical Regular
Daily Irregular Short
Early Late Slow
 Eternal Long Speed
Fast Modern Speedy
First Old Swift
Fleet Old-fashioned Waiting
Future Quick Young
To Describe an Amount
All Heavy One
Ample Hundreds Paltry
Astronomical Large Plentiful
Bountiful Light Profuse
Considerable Limited Several
Copious Little Sizable
Countless Many Some
Each Measly Sparse
Enough Mere Substantial
Every Multiple Teeming
Few Myriad Ten
Full Numerous Very
To Describe an Emotion
Abrasive Embarrassed Grumpy
Abrupt Energetic Kind
Afraid Enraged Lazy
Agreeable Enthusiastic Lively
Aggressive Envious Lonely
Amiable Evil Lucky
Amused Excited Mad
Angry Exhausted Manic
Annoyed Exuberant Mysterious
Ashamed Fair Nervous
Bad Faithful Obedient
Bitter Fantastic Obnoxious
Bewildered Fierce Outrageous
Boring Fine Panicky
Brave Foolish Perfect
Callous Frantic Persuasive
Calm Friendly Pleasant
Calming Frightened Proud
Charming Funny Quirky
Cheerful Furious Relieved
Combative Gentle Repulsive
Comfortable Glib Rundown
Defeated Glorious Sad
Confused Good Scary
Cooperative Grateful Selfish
Courageous Grieving Silly
Cowardly Gusty Splendid
Crabby Gutless Successful
Creepy Happy Tedious
Cross Healthy Tense
Cruel Heinous Terrible
Dangerous Helpless Thankful
Defeated Hilarious Thoughtful
Defiant Hungry Thoughtless
Delightful Hurt Tired
Depressed Hysterical Troubled
Determined Immoral Upset
Disgusted Impassioned Weak
 Disturbed Indignant Weary
Eager Irate Wicked
Elated Itchy Worried
Embarrassed Jealous Zany
Enchanting Jolly Zealous
To Describe a Person or Personality
Aggressive Famous Restless
Agoraphobic Fearless Rich
Ambidextrous Fertile Righteous
Ambitious Fragile Ritzy
Amoral Frank Romantic
Angelic Functional Rustic
Brainy Gabby Ruthless
Breathless Generous Sassy
Busy Gifted Secretive
Calm Helpful Sedate
Capable Hesitant Shy
Careless Innocent Sleepy
Cautious Inquisitive Somber
Cheerful Insane Stingy
Clever Jaunty Stupid
Common Juicy Super
Complete Macho Swanky
Concerned Manly Tame
Crazy Modern Tawdry
Curious Mushy Terrific
Dead Naughty Testy
Deep Odd Uninterested
 Delightful Old Vague
Determined Open Verdant
Different Outstanding Vivacious
Diligent Perky Wacky
Energetic Poor Wandering
Erratic Powerful Wild
Evil Puzzled Womanly
Exuberant Real Wrong
To Describe Appearance
Ablaze Distinct Quirky
Adorable Drab Ruddy
Alluring Dull Shiny
Attractive Elegant Skinny
Average Embarrassed Sloppy
Awkward Fancy Smiling
Balanced Fat Sparkling
Beautiful Filthy Spotless
Blonde Glamorous Strange
Bloody Gleaming Tacky
Blushing Glossy Tall
Bright Graceful Thin
Clean Grotesque Ugly
Clear Handsome Unattractive
Cloudy Homely Unbecoming
Clumsy Interior Uncovered
Colorful Lovely Unsightly
Confident Magnificent Unusual
Cracked Murky Watery
 Crooked Old-fashioned Weird
Crushed Plain Wild
Curly Poised Wiry
Cute Pretty Wooden
Debonair Puffy Worried
Dirty Quaint Zaftig
To Describe Situations
Accidental Doubtful Main
Achievable Elementary Minor
Advantageous Finger-printed Nasty
Alcoholic Groundless Nutritious
Animated Hard Obsolete
Aquatic Harmful Optimal
Aromatic High Organic
Aspiring Honest Premium
Bad Horrible Quizzical
Bawdy Illegal Rainy
Biographical Illegible Redundant
Bizarre Imperfect Remarkable
Broken Impossible Simple
Careful Internal Tangible
Credible Inventive Tricky
Creepy Jazzy Wholesale
Cumbersome Juvenile Worse
Disastrous Legal Wry
Dismissive Logical X-rated
Mind Your Love for Adjectives
Now that we've seen a nice sampling of adjectives, there's one thing left to note. It's best to use
discretion with adjectives. You never want to overdo it.
Generally, nouns and verbs should do most of the descriptive work in your writing. Don't simply
tell your reader something is beautiful, exciting, or interesting. Use your words to set a detailed
scene and consider using a sprinkling of adjectives rather than a heavy dousing.
Related article
 Let it go
Demi Lovato

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like the swirling storm inside.
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried.
Don't let them in, don't let them see, be the good girl you always had to be.
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.
Well now they know.

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway

It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small

And the fuse that once controlled me, can't get to me at all.
Up in here in the cold wind air, I finally can breathe.
I know I left a life behind, but I'm too relieved to grieve.

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway

(Standing, frozen, in the life I've chosen you will find me

The past is well behind me, buried in the snow)
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway
(na na, na na, na na na na) [x4] Na, na, you said, let it go, let it go
Let it go

Count on Me
Bruno Mars
If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea,
I'll sail the world to find you
If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see,
I'll be the light to guide you
Find out what we're made of
When we are called to help our friends in need
You can count on me like one two three
I'll be there
And I know when I need it I can count on you like four three two
You'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah
Whoa, whoa
Oh, oh
Yeah, yeah
If you tossin' and you're turnin' and you just can't fall asleep
I'll sing a song
Beside you
And if you ever forget how much you really mean to me
Everyday I will
Remind you
Ooh
Find out what we're made of
When we are called to help our friends in need
You can count on me like one two three
I'll…