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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What is the rule for adjective order?
I remember being taught that the correct order of adjectives in English was something along the lines of "Opinion-Size-Age-Color-Material-Purpose."
However, it's been a long time and I'm pretty sure ...
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What's the difference between the adjectives “strategic” and “tactical”?
I recently read this sentence:
It was a strategic move rather than a tactical one.
I have trouble interpreting it. Can someone help?
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13answers
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Is there a polite alternative to “No thanks, I'm full”?
English is not my native language, but when I was studying in the US, I was always trying to find an alternative to
I'm full!
I felt that it was a very improper way to express that I have eaten ...
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6answers
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“Login” or “log in”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“log in to” or “log into” or “login to”
Is there accepted terminology for the process of logging in?
As a verb, would you say "Go to ...
39
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18answers
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Is there a word to describe someone who tends to disagree with others only to upset them?
What's the word to describe someone who acts arrogantly and always disagrees with others unreasonably in order to upset people around him/her?
[I'm not looking for adjectives like unpleasant, ...
39
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11answers
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When to use “nude” and when “naked”
The question is quite clear.
Is there any difference (semantically or connotationally, if that's a word) between nude and naked? Nude seems more formal to me, but I'm not quite sure.
Interesting:
...
38
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5answers
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My shoes can't think; how can they be sensible?
Recently as some of us were getting ready to take a walk through the snow, somebody said to me "you're wearing sensible shoes". Now my shoes haven't developed cognitive abilities so far as I know ...
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4answers
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What is the difference between “illicit” and “illegal”?
What is the difference between "illicit" and "illegal"? Are they just synonymous? Used in different contexts?
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5answers
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Is “the girls are want to gossip” correct?
Is this the correct use and placement of want?
The girls in the office are want to gossip.
Does anyone have a reference citing this use?
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9answers
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Why is anyone in a porn movie considered a porn star?
Recently, the media made a big deal about Charlie Sheen dating a porn star. It seems that anyone who is in a porn movie is referred to as a porn star. The same is not true of anyone in a normal movie. ...
28
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5answers
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Winter - wintry; summer - summery; spring - ?; autumn -?
wintry:
characteristic of winter, esp. in feeling or looking very cold and bleak: "a wintry landscape".
summery: belonging to or characteristic of or occurring in summer; "summery weather";
...
26
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7answers
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Single word for people who are like “a frog in the well”
Is there a single word describing someone who is like a frog in a well? The frog believes the well is the entire world. How can I describe people who think that their own small environment is the ...
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7answers
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X, Y, Z — horizontal, vertical and …?
When working in a 2D coordinate system you could say that X is the horizontal axis and Y is the vertical axis.
Extending this to 3D, is there a similar word for the Z axis?
(I'm aware of Width, ...
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8answers
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Are “disgraceful” and “ungraceful” two different kinds of negations?
"Disgraceful" and "ungraceful" are both derived from negations of "graceful".
Wiktionary describes disgraceful as
bringing or warranting disgrace; shameful.
giving offense to moral sensibilities ...
23
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9answers
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What is the difference between “complicated” and “complex”?
I can't understand: what's the difference between complicated and complex?
They seem to be used interchangeably. Are they actually different at all?
23
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4answers
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“Bad with something” or “bad at something”?
In a question on Spanish.StackExchange, a question came up about expressing that you are bad at remembering or doing something. Is one "bad at something" or "bad with something" (nouns)? What about ...
22
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7answers
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How do you handle “that that”? The double “that” problem
Have you ever had a case where you felt compelled to include strange things like a double that in a sentence? If so, then what did you do to resolve this?
For me, I never knew whether it was ...
22
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5answers
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Is a lengthy combination of words with hyphens like “the worst not-technically-in-a-recession year in American history” a new fashion of writing?
I found a hyphenated word , “not-technically–in-a-recession” in the sentence of September 28 New York Times’ article titled “Why Obama Is Winning,” written by co-ed columnist, Ross Douthat. It reads:
...
21
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8answers
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What is a better way to name “The Wrong Question”?
On StackOverflow.com I often find that people ask questions about problems that arise due to poor design choices (typically due to a lack of knowledge about the particular programming language).
For ...
21
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8answers
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What do you call a computer window when it is not maximized or minimized?
What do you call a computer window when it is not maximized or minimized? I have been using unmaximized, but I feel there is a more precise way.
21
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3answers
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Why are not “infamous” and “inflammable” the opposite of “famous” and “flammable”?
Why are not infamous and inflammable the opposite of famous and flammable, like incomplete, inactivity, inappropriate and so on?
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7answers
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Why “Greater Toronto” rather than “Great Toronto”
Many big cities have their names preceded by Greater. Why not just Great? Does Greater indicate that the city is ambitious to expand itself?
Why is Greater not used for country names such as Great ...
20
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7answers
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Difference between “the very first” and “first”
I have the sentence:
Who wrote the very first dictionary ever?
Is it any different from
Who wrote the first dictionary ever?
I don't get how something could be more first.
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17answers
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Noun for “person with intermediate skill”
I'm looking for the noun form of "person with intermediate skill". For example, in the context of a particular activity, "person with no skill" might be designated a novice, and "person with much ...
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3answers
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Is the adjective “abject” ever found with any word other than “poverty”? Does it mean something other than “very” or “utterly”?
Reading over an answer at the Skeptics StackExchange, it occurred to me that I had never really seen the adjective abject used with any other word other than poverty. Has abject become inexorably ...
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“Bride” is to “bridal” as “groom” is to …?
Instead of taking a bridal portrait, my niece and her fiancé had photos taken together which she insisted on calling groomals. While I guess this term is the accepted name for this new trend, I ...
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3answers
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“More clear” vs “Clearer”: when to use “more” instead of “-er”?
Which one of these adjectives is correct? I can see that both of them are being used, I'm just not sure which one is grammatically correct.
Is there any general rules to follow as of the use of one ...
19
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3answers
839 views
What exactly are the differences between “diligent”, “assiduous” and “sedulous”?
From OALD:
sedulous (formal) showing great care and effort in your work
synonym: diligent
assiduous (formal) working very hard and taking great care that everything is done as well as it ...
18
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6answers
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Can “wet” be used for liquids other than water?
Wet can be used to describe being dowsed in liquids such as beer, milk, juice, urine etc. All of these, however, are water-based. Can wet be used for a liquid that has no water? Can you be wet by ...
17
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10answers
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A word for something that is both useful and beautiful
Is there a word to describe an object that excels in form and function? I am trying to avoid very general words like great, superb or excellent.
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Possessive of a word that is already possessive
If the cricket ground Lord's is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord's? Would you say "I was very impressed by Lord's's customer services"?
It doesn't look right, ...
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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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Adjective for “terrified yet calm and capable”
What is an adjective to describe the duality of a first responder (such as an EMT responding to a terrorist attack) who is terrified for the wounded, yet simultaneously calm, detached, and capable ...
15
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3answers
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What does “pneumatic” mean when applied to a person?
For example, in this review of the movie Unknown, Mark Kermode refers to Liam Neeson's character's wife as being played by "X-Men's pneumatic January Jones".
I'm never quite sure whether this refers ...
15
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5answers
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Are the rules regarding absolute modifiers too absolute?
A common grammar lesson that was taught to me in the US and that I've had to teach abroad in EFL classrooms is that we're not to use adverbs of emphasis with absolute modifiers, just as we're not ...
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Words pertaining to the senses and the corresponding disabilities
I need help on finding words relating to the senses/perception. I mean this in a neuronic/biological or philosophy-of-mind kind of way.
A word for...
pertaining to the senses (Is it sensory?)
...
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Is my worst enemy my best friend (interpreting negative adjectives applied to negative nouns)?
"The worst student" is the student who is bad at things. In this case, "worst" simply describes the noun.
Following this logic, your "worst enemy" would be the person who is very bad at being your ...
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3answers
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Creating words with “-able” suffix
What are general rules of thumb for creating adjectives with -able? I wanted to denote an object as having an ability to be tiled, but "tileable" and "tilable" both yielded as incorrect words by spell ...
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Is there a word to describe someone who often inaccurately uses words?
Or a word to describe the act of inaccurately using complicated or unusual words (often in an attempt to sound more intelligent)?
I considered 'bombastic' but it doesn't have that quality of ...
14
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3answers
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“Instable” or “unstable”?
From my experience, it seems that although unstable is more commonly used, instable is often preferred in engineering and scientific contexts, e.g. "aircraft instability", "instable algorithm".
Are ...
14
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3answers
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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 ...
14
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4answers
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How productive is the prefix “un-”?
Is it possible to use un- with new words such as sit, sleep, sad? I'm currently seeing many words (in programming) which use "un-" in the meaning of undoing something.
For example, is it possible to ...
14
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2answers
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How to connect a word and a phrase with a hyphen?
For example, "file system" and "related". Is it "file system-related"? It will appear as if it is a compound of "file" and "system-related", won't it?
14
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3answers
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Is there a rule for which suffix to use when creating adjectives from nouns?
There are many suffixes that are used to create adjectives from nouns (-al, -ic, -ive, -y).
Are there any rules used to create adjectives from nouns? In example, why is the adjective excessive, and ...
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What is a good replacement for “ununderstandable”?
I want to tell a colleague of mine I'm doing something that will prevent her from getting "ununderstandable" errors. I have:
...so that you will not get unnecessary, [ununderstandable] errors.
...
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9answers
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Simple English for “filling hunger”
I'm looking for a (preferably) one-word term to describe a meal that's filling.
I'd like to avoid ambiguity with the substance put inside cakes, also called filling.
Satiating appears to be too ...
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12answers
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What is the difference between “quicker” and “faster”?
What is the correct word to use here and why:
I will get there quicker [than you]
vs.
I will get there faster [than you]
There must be similar adverbs for "slower".
13
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7answers
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What is the opposite of “steep”?
In rock-climbing, we describe an incline as "steep" (which is anything from 90 degrees to overhanging) but we don't have a good word to mean "not steep". At least I've never heard anyone use one; ...
13
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4answers
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What is an alternative to “hairy” for things which don't have hair?
My 2-year-old son has to bring in interesting leaves and foliage into nursery this week.
We came across a leaf that we have been describing to him as "hairy". However, it occurred to me that it is ...
