What are some adjectives

List of 228 Common Adjectives

Adjectives modify perhaps the most common words in the English language, nouns. With a list of common adjectives at hand, you can effectively describe your surroundings in detail. The words on this list of 228 adjectives can all be used to describe feelings or the appearance of objects and can also make it easy to describe yourself, your surroundings and your favorite things.

Person Skydiving With List of Common Adjectives

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A-D List of Adjective Words

The first part of this list features commonly used adjectives from the first four letters of the alphabet.

E-K Adjectives List

There are plenty more often-used adjectives that start with letters in the next part of the alphabet. Review these adjective words that begin with the letters “e” through “k.”

L-S Adjective Words

Moving forward in alphabetical order, there are still many more adjectives appropriate for use in everyday conversation. Explore these common words that start with the letters between “l” and “s.”

T-Z List of Adjectives

There are plenty more common adjectives throughout the remainder of the alphabet. Explore these common words that start with the letters between “t” and “z.”

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Printable Adjectives List

Keeping up with all of these words doesn’t have to be challenging. Just download the printable version of this list by clicking the image below, then print or save for future reference. You’ll be excited to see that the printable version has even more adjectives!

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Why Use an Adjective List?

Whether you are a native English speaker or you are learning English as a second language, using an adjective list like this one can help you expand your language skills and organize your learning.

• Using an adjective list can help you build a more advanced vocabulary and build your ability to use descriptive language. This, in turn, will allow you to become a more effective writer and speaker.
• People who are learning a foreign language often make a list of common descriptive words to study in order to expand their vocabulary beyond just basic nouns and verbs in the new language.

Expand Your Descriptive Language Skills

While a list of 228 adjectives sounds like a lot, these are actually just a few examples of the many adjectives in the English language. When you’re ready to build out an even more extensive vocabulary of descriptive words, explore this list of more than 125 positive adjectives. Put a positive spin on your whole day with these uplifting descriptive words. Then, discover adjectives that describe tone, feelings and emotions. Get ready to boost your creativity and start building up your list of adjective words today!

Staff Writer

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Examples of Adjectives and How to Use Them

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 and added a dose of color. When you spend some time examining examples of adjectives, you can electrify your writing with the appropriate injection of adjectival beauty. Ready to have some fun? Dive into a list of adjective examples and how to use them in sentences.

adjectives definition chart

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Popular Adjectives Examples

Adjectives describe, identify or further define nouns and pronouns. There are thousands of these descriptive words at your disposal. For ease, they've been broken up into lists of adjectives according to various functions, such as 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 you read, the more you add to your vocabulary. In the meantime, explore a large selection to whet your adjectival appetite.

Adjectives To Describe Taste

Did you have a bland bagel? How about a delicious entrée at a restaurant? Well, adjectives are what allow you to describe those wonderful tastes.

Adjectives To Describe Touch

When it comes to touching something, you can use all kinds of adjectives to describe it. See a list of adjectives to feel your way through this world.

Adjectives To Describe Sound

Sounds have different volumes. Something can be a whisper or blaring and anything in between.

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Adjectives To Describe Color

The world is full of a rainbow of color. But if you didn't have adjectives, you wouldn't be able to describe them. Explore several descriptive color adjectives you might use every day to color your world.

Adjectives To Describe Size

Was that spider gigantic or large? It honestly doesn't matter because you can use whatever adjective you need to describe it best.

Adjectives To Describe Shape

You can find a blob on your table or a distorted toy. Adjectives for shapes can come in handy.

Adjectives To Describe Time

How do you describe the passing of time or looking into the past? There are lots of different ways you can talk about time passing due to adjectives.

Adjectives To Describe an Amount

Whether it's an ample or minute amount, you need adjectives to describe it. Spice up your written word through these fun and descriptive adjectives.

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Adjectives To Describe an Emotion

The emotions of people are vast. From abrasive to grumpy to lazy, you can a lot of different words that describe how a person feels.

Adjectives To Describe a Person or Personality

Everyone has that famous friend or a restless family member. Imagine how you would describe those around you without adjectives. Thankfully you don't have to. Just to make your life easier, check out this list of descriptive words for personalities or people.

Adjectives To Describe Appearance

A novel or letter wouldn't even hold weight if you couldn't use words like quirky and dull to paint a verbal picture of your characters. Explore words that describe a person's appearance.

Adjectives To Describe Situations

Jazz up your discussion of situations with some descriptive adjectives. These words make a plot so much better!

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Printable List of Adjectives

Since there are so many different adjectives, check out a printable list to inspire you.

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How to Use Adjectives

Adjectives are used within sentences to modify nouns. So they might tell you what something looks like "beautiful hat" or the number of something "ten flowers." Adjectives are handy within sentences because they provide readers more information. Additionally, adjectives are found with the noun they are modifying. To understand how an adjective is used within a sentence, check out a few example sentences with adjectives.

• We watched the scariest movie yesterday.
• He had a blue bike in his yard.
• He was carrying four flowers.
• The mean dog growled at the mailman.
• I have a messy desk.

Additionally, you can use adjectives to complement a linking verb called a predicate adjective. So the adjective might provide more about how something is feeling.

• My brother is sad.
• It looks messy in the living room.
• Walking is slower than skating.
• My dog is excited.

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.

As you seek to strike that balance, expand your adjectival toolbox a little further with this list of positive adjectives. Having a wide variety of options at your disposal will allow you to choose the right adjective at the right time.

Staff Writer

Comparative and superlative | EF

Comparative adjectives

Comparative adjectives show the differences between two objects that they modify ( larger, smaller, faster, higher ). They are used in sentences that compare two nouns, as in this example:

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

The second word to which the comparison is made can be omitted as it is clear from the context (last example).

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Superlative adjectives

Superlative adjectives describe an object that has the highest or lowest quality ( the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest ). They are used in sentences when a subject is compared to a group of objects.

Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative + noun (object).

The group of items being compared to can be omitted if it is clear from the context (last example).

Creating a Simple Comparative and Superlative

Creating a comparative and superlative is quite simple. The form depends on the number of syllables in the original adjective.

One-syllable adjectives

Add -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative. If the adjective consists of a consonant + a single vowel + a pronounced consonant, then the last consonant is doubled before the ending.

Adjectives with two syllables

Adjectives with two syllables can form a comparative degree either by adding -er at the end or by adding more before the adjective. Such adjectives form the superlative by adding -est and with the word most before the adjective. In many cases, both forms may be used, although the use of one of the forms may occur before the other. If you're not sure whether a two-syllable adjective can form a comparative or superlative, use 9 instead0005 more and most . In case the adjective ends in y , change the y to i before adding the ending.

Adjectives with three or more syllables

Those adjectives with three or more syllables form the comparative with more before the adjective itself, and most before a superlative adjective.

Adjectives in comparative and superlative degree (suppletive way of formation)

These common adjectives form the comparative and superlative in a special way.

Test your knowledge

English adjectives

An adjective in English is called adjective. As in Russian, English adjectives answer the questions “what?”, “what?”, “what?” and indicate the characteristics of objects.

In English, adjectives do not decline for cases, genders, numbers, do not have short forms, but play an important role in making speech and texts more colorful, understandable and detailed.

Let's start with the classification of English adjectives.

By their meaning adjectives are divided into relative and qualitative.

Relative adjectives denote signs of objects or phenomena that cannot be expressed to a greater or lesser extent, that is, they do not have degrees of comparison. Also, relative adjectives do not combine with words such as very (very), enough (quite).

Adjectives of this type include adjectives that mean:

• location. For example: southern (southern), top (upper), middle (central).
• materials, composition. For example: gold (gold), glass (glass), iron (iron).
• origin. For example: Russian (Russian), American (American).
• timing. For example: daily (daily), monthly (monthly).
• industry affiliation. For example: political (political), economic (economic).

Qualitative adjectives describe a certain attribute of an object. Sometimes they are also called descriptive adjectives.

Qualitative adjectives refer to:

• color Red (red), white (white), yellow (yellow).
• size and shape. Small (small), big (large), huge (huge), long (long), round (round).
• opinion and evaluation. Beautiful (beautiful), excellent (excellent), nice (beautiful), terrible (terrible).
• sensations and emotions. Cold (cold), tasty (tasty), awful (terrible), happy (happy), sad (sad).

Please note that depending on the context and meaning, the same adjective can fall into different categories of adjectives at the same time.

In addition, English adjectives can be divided into 3 groups according to word composition.

• simple adjectives that consist only of the root. For example: short (short), long (long), young (young), nice (pleasant), cold (cold).
• derivative adjectives that have a prefix and / or suffix in the word. For example: useful (useful), interesting (interesting), unhappy (unhappy), dangerous (dangerous), impossible (impossible).
• Compound or compound adjectives consisting of several words that can be separated by a hyphen. For example, hard-working (hard-working), good-looking (pretty), well-educated (well-educated), short-tempered (unrestrained).

As we have already noted, qualitative adjectives can have degrees of comparison. Let's consider this in more detail.

Adjectives can have 2 degrees of comparison: comparative, when two or more objects, persons or phenomena are compared with each other, and superlative, when one or more objects are distinguished from a group of similar ones on some basis.

Let's give examples of the comparative degree in Russian.

This boy in the gray hat is older than the guys he is currently playing with.

Red maples usually cost more than regular green maples.