A List of All Adjectives

Adjectives are the words we use to describe nouns. They are different from adverbs, the words typically used to describe verbs. Adjectives include all sorts of descriptives: colors, shapes, textures and words relating to height or weight. Adjectives also include words that describe physical characteristics of placement, such as high or low, or the characteristics that make a noun that sort of .

In order to understand and eventually master the usage of the English language, one must understand how to use one of the most common parts of speech in the language, the adjective. Unlike the noun, which represents a person, place, thing, animal, or idea, or the verb, which is a word that signifies an action, the adjective is a word that describes a noun. For example, in the sentence "Paul ate the juicy steak," the word "juicy" would be an adjective, since it describes the noun "steak." A common error is to confuse adjectives, which describe nouns, with adverbs, which describe verbs; for example, in the sentence "Joe walked slowly," the word "slowly" is an adverb, not an adjective, since it describes the verb "walked."Though a list of all adjectives would certainly be a helpful tool, no such list exists, as the number of adjectives in the English language is uncountable. English has been changing since it came into existence, and it continues to change, adding new words as older ones fall out of common usage. Therefore, the number of adjectives in the English language is always in flux. However, there are many resources that provide a list of many different adjectives. The website http://www.momswhothink.com/reading/list-of-adjectives.html offers a list of over 1,100 adjectives sorted in alphabetical order from "aback" to "zonked." It also sorts adjectives by type, including adjectives that describe appearance such as "magnificent" or "plain," and adjectives that describe feelings like "embarrassed" or "grumpy." Another helpful list of adjectives can be found at http://www.esldesk.com/vocabulary/adjectives. This website offers a mix of common adjectives like "big," "dry" and "dull" as well as less common ones, such as "nebulous," "quizzical" and "vacuous." Both websites will help any English speaker understand the function of an adjective while expanding vocabulary and enabling a stronger grasp of communication.