Adjectives are words, or phrases naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.
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A pejorative term for “unreasonably gregarious”
I am looking for a pejorative term to describe someone who constantly needs social interaction regardless of quality.
Something along the lines of "social nymphomaniac", but not necessarily ...
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2answers
66 views
Is a sentence beginning with “Different from” not so good?
I saw one topic on the wordreference forum discussing whether a sentence could begin with "Different from" (see the post). The example sentences in that post are
A: Different from Drug A, Drug B ...
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Etymology Moderne of … “sick”, “bad”, and words we hardly consider being the opposite any more [closed]
Somewhat prosaically, it was stated that the origin (or at least the coining practice likely used) of the word "sick" to mean "awesome", or "cool", or "astounding" ... itself used the word "cool", ...
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1answer
42 views
Proper adjective to use with the word “chance” (“low”, “small”, “slim”, etc.)
What is the proper adjective to use with word chance? Can chance be low, small, slim?
What would be your suggestion?
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2answers
68 views
“It was still bright/light outside.” Is one of these incorrect?
If I want to say it's still somewhat early in the evening and it's not so dark outside so that you can still see things quite clearly almost like during daytime, which of the following sentences would ...
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3answers
141 views
Is “emptiest” a logically correct term?
There are some adjectives that are logical binaries, e.g. empty — either the noun is empty or it isn't.
Can we apply a superlative degree to such adjectives? E.g.
This is the emptiest these ...
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0answers
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Adjective following a verb [closed]
Which of these sentences is correct?
This music sounds great!
You look nice today.
You sing very good.
Which verbs can be followed by an adjective?
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1answer
50 views
Migratory or migration?
In this phrase:
the migratory activity of white blood cells
is it possible to replaced the adjective migratory by the noun migration, which also serves as an adjective? Only one variant is ...
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4answers
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The ( changed ) meaning or classification of words in programming [closed]
I am facing a bit of a dilemma / problem .
I am an amateur programmer ( profile ) , and in programming languages some terms are accepted , known to everyone and frequently used everywhere .
My doubt ...
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1answer
55 views
Saxon Genitive vs. Adjective Noun (Model Parameters vs. Model's Parameters)
The suggestions in this same forum say that the use of the phrase "the car's antenna" is correct.
Questions:
Nobody mentioned the use of "the car antenna" -- which to me would be much more natural, ...
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3answers
118 views
Is it correct to use the comparative adjective “blacker?”
You can find "bluer," "redder," "greener," and "whiter" in the dictionary, but not "blacker." This seems mystifying. In his "El Paso" song, Marty Robbins sang, "Blacker than night were the eyes of ...
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1answer
82 views
Part of speech: “I am disappointed with”
In a construction such as, "John is disappointed with Alice", what part of speech is disappointed with? It appears to me that the "am" is a linking verb.
Similarly, "Jessica is sad", it seems to me ...
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1answer
96 views
“My late friends” — they're not dead!
Context: We're discussing about how we used to get penalized in school for being late to classes, many years ago.
I wanted to say:
In my old school, it was hilarious to see my late friends get
...
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2answers
88 views
Can we say “probable” where we have to say “possible”?
Can we say probable where we have to say possible?
What is the exact meaning of that? I have searched this, but I didn't get the perfect example of that.
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1answer
100 views
Is it preferable to generally use nested prepositional phrases or a hyphenated adjectival phrase?
I've recently run into some sticky situations involving how to write out complicated concept descriptions. Take this example:
Which metrics are appropriate for evaluating the accuracy of a ...
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1answer
50 views
Can “above” be used as an adjective? [duplicate]
I've read in some English grammar books that the word above can only act as an adverb. It can never be used as an adjective in any context.
For example:
1) The above example explains it well.
...
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2answers
120 views
multiple adjectives next to each other [closed]
In low volume, a melody sad love song is playing in a mobile phone placed on the side table.
Do you see the three adjectives (melody sad love) together? Is that correct?
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2answers
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What role does 'in' take in this sentence?
Father: “It may not be exactly the car you want but..” Daughter:
“It’ll be rubbish, some old wreck that I’ll look totally stupid
in.” (BBC, The Archers, 2013-04-26 Friday, 8’55”~9’01”)
Does ...
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3answers
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Hot is to heat as cold is to
Can you please fill in the blank?
Hot is to heat as cold is to....
In other words, what is the noun for "cold"?
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1answer
45 views
About the meaning of “light smattering of applause”
I expected "light smattering of applause" to mean "few applause" because "light" has the meaning of "small, not heavy".
However, the phrase seems to mean "a lot of applause" in the context. For ...
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3answers
442 views
Word to describe someone who rarely gets upset
Is there a word to describe someone who rarely and almost never gets upset/angry? The words first came to my mind are non-confrontational and stoic, though they relate, they are not exactly what I'm ...
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0answers
63 views
Nouns that function as adjectives [closed]
I'm discovering that some "nouns" are not really nouns, but are adjectives. For example, ceiling fan, toy box, etc. But what about piece of cake? Is cake an adjective? Cake describes the piece, so it ...
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2answers
120 views
Is “I'm being angry” ungrammatical?
I am arguing with friends about this question.
According to what I learned in school, there are some adjectives that cannot be used in the progressive form.
I think this one is ungrammatical because ...
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2answers
56 views
Is there an adjectival form of “levity”?
Can anybody tell me the adjectival form of levity? I've found levitious here, but not sure whether it’s a dictionary word.
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2answers
90 views
Why “afraid of” and not “brave of”?
Recently my preschooler's teacher started teaching kids that they should be "brave of" something and not "afraid of" it. Maybe it is simply because "brave of" is never used, but that syntax strikes me ...
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5answers
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word for false nostalgia
Is there a word to describe nostalgia for things that never existed? For example, a 1950s-style diner is supposed to reconstruct a cultural archetype, but there never existed such a diner. John Wayne ...
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1answer
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use of articles with personal names modified by adjectives
Suddenly, to everybody's surprise, the silent Mr.Smith swung around and addressed Barbara.
The dinner was served by a silent Mrs. Keats.
I saw an infuriated Jennifer, who started shouting at ...
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2answers
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Grammaticality of “a high number of”
Is the phrase "a high number of" considered correct? Or is it only correct to say "a large number of"?
Example:
Japan has a high number of active volcanoes.
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1answer
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knowing as a noun
I'm slightly confused by using the word 'knowing' as a noun. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (5th edition) says that 'knowing' can be used only as an adjective. But, for example, ...
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11answers
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Opposite of “verbose”
One definition of verbose states:
characterized by the use of many or too many words; wordy: a verbose report.
Some (including the above link) suggest that the opposite is concise or laconic, ...
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2answers
81 views
Can we use “very” with a “non-” adjective?
Can we use very with an adjective that starts with "non"?
For example:
Absolute pathnames should be avoided in #include directives because
they make the program very nonportable.
For some ...
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1answer
111 views
Meaning of “deep” in “deep, acute curves suggest confusion”
Deep, acute curves, on the other hand, suggest confusion, turbulence, even frenzy, as in the violence of waves in a storm, the chaos of a tangled thread, or the turmoil of lines suggested by the ...
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Is it Sparsest or Most Sparse?
Is the superlative of the adjective sparse, sparsest or most sparse? Can both be used? If not, then which one is correct?
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2answers
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Using “meantime” as an adjective
Does it make sense to say:
Please consider this email as a meantime brief report.
If yes, why? and if no, how can it be fixed?
Edit
By the above sentence, I want to say that this email is not ...
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2answers
189 views
A noun to describe character sequences between words
I'm creating a formal system in which a sentence can be formed by four types of sequences of characters:
Words
Prefixes
Suffixes
Sequences in between words
What noun would you use to describe a ...
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1answer
46 views
Meaning of “originating” in the context
In the computer science, the program is processed as a sequence of commands which is called "control flow". At some point, it branches and a different branch of code is processed.
In an article I ...
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3answers
154 views
“It's all academic”
What exactly does 'It's all academic' mean when referring to the closing moments of a sports game? You'll often hear 'This one's academic!' or 'It's all academic from this point forward' or 'It's all ...
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2answers
83 views
Looking for words similar to “lagging” and “ahead of”
In computer networking, assume that I'm waiting for packets which are ordered by sequence number. First I get sequence number 1, and then 2, then 3 …
Assume that I now have 99 packets and ...
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1answer
33 views
“Interaction technologies” vs. “interactive technologies”
What is your feeling about the differences between the two?
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1answer
86 views
History of the words “conservative” and “liberal”
I’m curious in the history of political parties of the USA. Initially in 1861 Abraham Lincoln was the first President to represent the Republican party which has always been stated as conservative ...
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1answer
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Can I say 'I feel connected' when I think a movie tells my story?
Recently I saw a movie that tells a story very similar to mine. I wanted to tell my friends about it and said 'I felt connected'. They doubted if that is the right word to use, since the word ...
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2answers
43 views
Word implying this object is required by another
I'm looking for a word that has the opposite implication to "depends on" or "has this prerequisite". Something which describes the relationship of B to A if A is a prerequisite of B.
Something that ...
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4answers
240 views
Quintessential vs essential?
While quintessential means 'representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class' [OED], it defines essential as 'absolutely necessary; extremely important'. I have noticed frequent ...
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2answers
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Correct usage of adjectives related to amounts of time
What are the correct adjectives to use when talking about amounts of time (when one needs to quantify an amount of time)? In particular, which one of the two:
little / small
big / large
For example: ...
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1answer
83 views
Does the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” exist? [closed]
I have heard about the word countless times. However, when I looked up the dictionary, I could not find it. So I would like to ask if the word even exists at all. If so, what does the word actually ...
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1answer
101 views
Alternative for “full-fledged”
I am looking for an alternative for "full-fledged".
Mister X systematised its use and meaning, and developed the notion
into a full-fledged concept of ...
The context is academic, but not ...
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3answers
101 views
Can I use the word “hacker” as an adjective?
Can I use the noun hacker as an adjective?
For example, can I write or say:
It was a hacker trick.
so that it means this:
It was a trick of a hacker.
And can I use
It's hacker code.
...
15
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3answers
535 views
Racial connotations of the word “uppity”
I was told that the word uppity has some racial connotations originating from the times of segregation in the South. I never thought of it as such. I kind of like the sound of the word but was ...
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1answer
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What's the difference between “active” and “busy”?
What's the difference in meaning between saying "I'm an active person." and "I'm a busy person."?
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1answer
75 views
non-typical copular and predicative expression
SMASH! The door was hit with such force that it swung clean (1)
off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed (2) flat on the floor. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
(1), (2) both ...
