Definition of "adjective" in 英语

noun

1. (grammar) A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent.

   • The words “big” and “heavy” are English adjectives.

2. (obsolete) A dependent; an accessory.

adjective

1. (grammar) Adjectival; pertaining to or functioning as an adjective.

2. (law) Applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure.

3. (chemistry, of a dye) Needing the use of a mordant to be made fast to that which is being dyed.

4. (obsolete, reflected in the chemical sense, but extinct as a general sense) Incapable of independent function.

   • In fact, God is of not so much importance in Himself, but as the end towards which man tends. That irreverent person who said that Browning uses “God” as a pigment made an accurate criticism of his theology. In Browning, God is adjective to man.

verb

1. (transitive) To make an adjective of; to form or convert into an adjective.

   • Language has as much occasion to adjective the distinct signification of the verb, and to adjective also the mood, as it has to adjective time. It has […] adjectived all three.

2. (transitive, chiefly as a participle) To characterize with an adjective; to describe by using an adjective.