Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Adjective
1.
Added to a substantive as an attribute; of the nature of an adjunct;
as, an
. adjective
word or sentence2.
Not standing by itself; dependent.
Adjective color
, a color which requires to be fixed by some mordant or base to give it permanency.
3.
Relating to procedure.
“The whole English law, substantive and adjective.” Macaulay.
Ad′jec-tive
,Noun.
[L.
adjectivum
(sc. nomen
), neut. of adjectivus
that is added, fr. adjicere
: cf. F. adjectif
. See Adject
.] 1.
(Gram.)
A word used with a noun, or substantive, to express a quality of the thing named, or something attributed to it, or to limit or define it, or to specify or describe a thing, as distinct from something else. Thus, in phrase, “a wise ruler,” wise is the adjective, expressing a property of ruler.
2.
A dependent; an accessory.
Fuller.
Ad′jec-tive
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Adjectived
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Adjectiving
.] To make an adjective of; to form or change into an adjective.
[R.]
Language has as much occasion to
adjective
the distinct signification of the verb, and to adjective
also the mood, as it has to adjective
time. It has . . . adjectived
all three. Tooke.
Webster 1828 Edition
Adjective
AD'JECTIVE
,Noun.
Definition 2024
adjective
adjective
See also: adjectivé
English
Adjective
adjective (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Incapable of independent function.
- 1899, John Jay Chapman, Emerson and Other Essays, AMS Press (1969) (as reproduced in Project Gutenberg)
- In fact, God is of not so much importance in Himself, but as the end towards which man tends. That irreverent person who said that Browning uses “God” as a pigment made an accurate criticism of his theology. In Browning, God is adjective to man.
- 1899, John Jay Chapman, Emerson and Other Essays, AMS Press (1969) (as reproduced in Project Gutenberg)
- (grammar) Adjectival; pertaining to or functioning as an adjective.
- (law) Applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure.
- Macaulay
- The whole English law, substantive and adjective.
- Macaulay
- (chemistry, of a dye) Needing the use of a mordant to be made fast to that which is being dyed.
Synonyms
- (incapable of independent function): dependent, derivative
- (functioning as an adjective): adjectival
- (applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure): procedural
Antonyms
- (applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure): substantive
- (of a dye that needs the use of a mordant): substantive
Translations
incapable of independent function
adjectival — see adjectival
methods of enforcement and rules of procedure
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Noun
adjective (plural adjectives)
- (grammar) A word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent.
- The words “big” and “heavy” are English adjectives.
- (obsolete) A dependent; an accessory.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)
Synonyms
- See Wikisaurus:adjective
Derived terms
Terms derived from adjective
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Translations
(grammar) a word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent
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Verb
adjective (third-person singular simple present adjectives, present participle adjectiving, simple past and past participle adjectived)
- (transitive) To make an adjective of; to form or convert into an adjective.
- Tooke
- Language has as much occasion to adjective the distinct signification of the verb, and to adjective also the mood, as it has to adjective time. It has […] adjectived all three.
- 1832, William Hunter, An Anglo-Saxon grammar, and derivatives (page 46)
- In English, instead of adjectiving our own substantives, we have borrowed, in immense numbers, adjectived signs from other languages […]
- Tooke
Translations
To make an adjective of
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