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Examples of Adjectives

Looking at examples of adjectives can make it easier to understand how these important parts of speech are used in the English language.

Popular Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes, identifies or further defines a noun or a pronoun. There are thousands of adjectives available to describe how something feels, looks, sounds, tastes and acts. Here are a few examples:

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 Elementarty 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

Using Adjectives in Writing

While it’s important to understand how adjectives add to the descriptions of the nouns and pronouns, it’s also wise to understand how to effectively use these parts of speech in your own writing.

Adjectives are best used sparingly. Generally, nouns and verbs should do the bulk of the descriptive work in your prose. Don’t simply tell your reader that something is beautiful, exciting, or interesting. Use your words to show why these descriptive labels are appropriate.

Want more adjectives? Visit this word list of adjective flashcards. Or review these additional articles on adjectives:

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