List of Descriptive Adjectives

List of Descriptive Adjectives
Adjectives are used in a language to describe something or someone. Descriptive adjectives form a prominent part of this broader category. In this article, you will find the list, types and usage of descriptive adjectives.
The eight parts of speech, viz., Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Pronoun, Conjunction, Preposition and Interjection, form the backbone of English grammar and composition. Adjectives are used extensively in regular conversation and writing, specifically when we are describing something. Adjectives are one of the eight parts of speech that express an attribute of a place, thing, an event or a person. In simpler words, adjectives describe, qualify or modify nouns. Adjectives precede the noun in a sentence. There can also be more than two adjectives qualifying a single noun. Adjectives in English are categorized into two types: limiting adjectives and descriptive adjectives.

 Descriptive Adjectives


The group of descriptive adjectives is the largest among all the types of adjectives. They describe the noun in detail by assigning an attribute to that noun. The list of descriptive adjectives is considered nearly unending, as there are words to describe nearly all nouns.

The following are lists of adjectives, categorized according to ones that describe qualities, personality traits, colors, sizes, shapes, sounds and feelings. These can also be used to describe quality of something, or even to describe a person's character.

► Adjectives Describing Appearance

E.g. Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. But it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were pale green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly tilted at the ends.
- Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)

Appearance of a person can be described in numerous ways. Now, take a look at the aforementioned example. Here, the highlighted words are adjectives describing appearance of the character. The word Beautiful is commonly used to describe a woman. Similarly, the other words, arresting, pointed, square, pale green, etc., describe different facial features.

Adorable
Attractive
Alluring
Beautiful
Bewildered
Boorish
Bright
Confident
Cheerful
Cultured
Clumsy
Drab
Dull
Dynamic
Disillusioned
Elegant
Energetic
Fair
Fancy
Filthy
Gentle
Glamorous
Handsome
Homely
Hurt
Ill-mannered
Jolly
Lovely
Magnificent
Neat
Nervous
Pleasant
Perfect
Plucky
Prim
Smiling
Splendid
Self-assured
Snobbish
Thoughtful
Tense
Timid
Upset
Vivacious
Wonderful
Worried
Wild

► Adjectives Describing Personality

E.g. The unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds.

-The Tribute by Earl Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana, at her funeral.
The words, unique, complex, extraordinary and irreplaceable are used to describe the personality of the Princess. While the words, internal and external are other types of adjectives.

Aggressive
Ambitious
Amused
Brave
Barbarous
Cruel
Combative
Co-operative
Cowardly
Dangerous
Diligent
Determined
Disagreeable
Evil
Erratic
Frank
Fearless
Friendly
Generous
Gifted
Helpful
Harmonious
Hesitant
Instinctive
Jealous
Knowing
Kind-hearted
Loner
Mysterious
Naughty
Pleasing
Placid
Punctual
Quiet
Rigid
Successful
Sedate
Sincere
Selfish
Talented
Thrifty
Truculent
Unbiased
Voracious
Witty
Wise
Warm
Zany

► Adjectives Describing Feelings

E.g. She wasn't bitter. She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just takes time.
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

Here the words bitter, sad are adjectives that negatively describe one's feelings. On the other hand, hopeful is a feeling that describes optimism. These type of adjectives are used to describe people.

Afraid
Angry
Anxious
Bad
Bored
Berserk
Calm
Confused
Comfortable
Creepy
Depressed
Disturbed
Dominating
Deceitful
Envious
Elated
Faithful
Fine
Frustrated
Good
Gloomy
Grieving
Horrible
Happy
Hungry
Ill
Jovial
Kind
Lively
Mature
Nice
Proud
Peaceful
Protective
Sorrowful
Silly
Somber
Sore
Tired
Troubled
Testy
Unwell
Unhappy
Vengeful
Wicked
Weary
Wrong
Zestful

► Adjectives Describing Shape

E.g. The two Bludgers are round, jet black balls, made of iron
- Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

These adjectives are usually used to describe a thing. Round is a descriptive adjective that tells us more about the shape of the ball; while jet black, another adjective, describes its color.

Broad
Crooked
Circular
Distorted
Flat
Hollow
Narrow
Round
Square
Skinny
Steep
Wide

► Adjectives Describing Size

E.g. They would not allow me to be a dwarf, because my littleness was beyond all degrees of comparison; for the queen's favorite dwarf, the smallest ever known in that kingdom, was near thirty feet high.
- Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift)

These adjectives are also commonly used to describe things. Here, smallest is a superlative degree (degree of comparison) used to describe the size of the dwarf.

Big
Colossal
Great
Gigantic
Huge
Large
Miniature
Mammoth
Petite
Tall
Thin
Tiny

► Adjectives Describing Time

E.g. Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.
- Ovid

You may not be aware, but, there are many adjectives that are used to describe time, other than early and late. Here ancient describes time. The aforementioned and the following examples can be used.

Ancient
Annual
Brief
Early
Fast
Late
Modern
Old
Rapid
Swift
Slow
Young

► Adjectives Describing Quantity

E.g. The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little.
- Ben Sweetland

Many is another common adjective used to describe the quantity or number of something. Similarly, little is the adjective here that describes the amount of expectations of people.

Abundant
Bountiful
Considerable
Empty
Extra
Few
Heavy
Myriad
Many
Multiple
Numerous
Substantial

► Adjectives Describing Sound

E.g. I detest heavy perfume and shrill voices.
- Renee Vivien

In this example, the adjective shrill expresses the type of voice. Heavy is another adjective used in the sentence that describes the nature of the perfume.

Blaring
Cooing
Deafening
Loud
Melancholic
Noisy
Soft
Shrill
Squeaking
Silent
Thundering
Whispering

► Adjectives Describing Taste

E.g. But all that being said about modulation, if you're serving people delicious food, they won't complain.
- Sally Schneider

The following adjectives are used to describe different types of food. The adjective, delicious, used here is one of the most commonly-used attribute for food.

Bitter
Delicious
Fresh
Hot
Icy
Juicy
Spicy
Sweet
Sour
Salty
Tasty
Tasteless

► Adjectives Describing Touch

E.g. Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it, and the bloom is gone."
- Oscar Wilde

These adjectives are used to describe things. In the above example, delicate describes the nature of the fruit. If you take a look at the following examples, you will find that these adjectives can be used to detail many types of nouns.

Hard
Loose
Rough
Smooth
Slippery
Sticky
Sharp
Scattered
Soft
Tender
Uneven
Wet

► Adjectives Describing Color

E.g. Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple..."
- Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

Using colors as adjectives is one of the most common forms of describing nouns (appearance of things, people, etc.) Here the word golden describes an apple, an indirectly, it describes the autumn. Crisp is the other adjective used here to describe the apple.

Azure
Aqua
Blue
Black
Crimson
Cyan
Gold
Green
Magenta
Orange
Pink
Turquoise

Usage of Descriptive Adjectives
If you wish to use more than one descriptive adjective, you need to follow certain rules of usage. The descriptive adjective follows the opinion adjective. To understand this, consider the following example.
E.g. A beautiful, green emerald.
In the above example, both 'beautiful' and 'green' are descriptive adjectives. But, the adjective 'beautiful' is an opinion or a general adjective that may differ from person to person. On the other hand, 'green' is a specific adjective that defines an emerald. Therefore, when more descriptive adjectives have to be used, they should follow the manner illustrated below.
E.g. A black, wooden door.
E.g. A magnificent, huge bungalow.

Descriptive adjectives are primarily differentiated into simple adjectives and compound adjectives.

Simple Adjectives
Simple adjectives are single words that are commonly used to describe a noun. These are commonly used in verbal communication when describing a thing or a person.
E.g. good, happy, bad, thin, lovely, picturesque

Compound Adjectives
Two or more adjectives, used consecutively to describe the same noun, are known as compound adjectives. They are hyphenated in order to avoid confusion. The most common compound adjectives are the ones formed when adjectives precede nouns like 'blue-sky', or when adjectives are preceded by verbs as in 'feel-good'. When two or more colors are used as adjectives, there is always a hyphen between them.
E.g. middle-aged, short-sighted, bluish-green

If there is no hyphen between two adjectives, there can be an ambiguity in the meaning of the sentence. The following example will be helpful to illustrate this.
E.g. A man-eating tiger.
As the adjectives are hyphenated, it is clear that they describe the noun, 'tiger'. Now, consider the following example,
E.g. A man eating tiger.
Here, as there is no hyphen between the two words, it is difficult to interpret the two words, 'man and eating', as a compound adjective (man-eating). The sentence clearly means that a man is eating a tiger.

To understand the usage of adjectives clearly, they are also further classified into the following sub-types.

Predicate Adjectives
Predicate adjectives affirm an attribute of the subject. In simpler words, these adjectives modify the subject in the sentence. There is always a linking verb that connects the subject to the predicate adjective.
E.g. The cake is tasty.
Here the predicate adjective 'tasty' describes the subject 'the cake'.

Adjective Degrees
When an adjective describes a single noun, it is the positive degree of adjective; whereas when the adjective denotes comparison between two nouns, it is the comparative degree of adjective. The superlative degree of adjective is used when the comparison is between many nouns.
E.g. A is a tall building (positive degree)
E.g. B is taller than A (comparative degree)
E.g. C is the tallest building (superlative degree)

Participial Adjectives
When participles express a quality of the nouns, i.e. when they function as adjectives, they are known as participial adjectives. There are two types of participial adjectives; the ones ending with 'ing' and the ones ending with 'ed'.
E.g. The program was boring
E.g. We were bored at the program.

Note: If you want to know more about Participal Adjectives and its usage click on the following link:

Limiting Adjectives
Limiting adjectives are used to specify only certain nouns. They are limited to the noun that they describe, and hence, are known as limiting adjectives. The types of limiting adjectives are possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, numerical adjectives, interrogative adjectives, and proper adjectives.
E.g. His book (possessive adjective)                 E.g. Shakespearean drama (proper adjective)