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Glite Dictionary
descriptive adjective

descriptive adjective

3.4
Word that describes a quality of a thing, like tall or blue
  • noun
  • /dɪˈskrɪptɪv ˈædʒɛktɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : adjetivo descriptivo
  • In the phrase 'a cheerful child', 'cheerful' serves as a descriptive adjective for the noun.

Examples

  • In Experiment 1, we used 20 personality descriptive adjectives of the Flemish version of a Big-Five Questionnaire (Matricide, 1992) as objects.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The word 'nervous' is a descriptive adjective that characterizes a person's emotional state.

  • Descriptive adjectives, like 'tall' and 'smart', enrich our language by adding detail to nouns.

Synonyms

qualifying adjective
vsdescriptive adjective
  • Specialized
6.5

A word that describes a quality of a person, place, or thing

is identical in meaning but uses a different label or term

Surface Forms

descriptive adjective singular
descriptive adjectives plural

Morphology

descriptive + adjective

The meaning 'an adjective that describes a quality' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'descriptive' (giving specific details) with 'adjective' (a word that describes a noun). This literal, compositional noun phrase follows standard English patterns and has clear parallels in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand it.

Etymology

Descriptive adjective is like a label on a thing: descriptive means 'to describe' and adjective is a word that goes with a noun. So a descriptive adjective tells a noun's color, size, feeling or other quality.