List of Descriptive Adjectives

The English language is one of the most popular and widely spoken languages in the world. Once you master the rules of English grammar, understanding and learning the language is a lot easier. There are large number of words in the English language, and all these words can be classified into the eight parts of speech. These parts of speech, viz. Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Pronoun, Conjunction, Preposition and Interjection, form the backbone of English grammar and composition. Here we will know more about adjectives.

Adjectives

Adjectives are required 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. The list of adjectives in English are categorized into two types; limiting adjectives and descriptive adjectives.

Limiting Adjectives
Limiting adjectives are used to specify only certain or specific 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)
Shakespearean drama (proper adjective)

Descriptive Adjectives
Descriptive adjectives is the largest group among all the types of adjectives. Descriptive adjectives describe the noun in detail by assigning an attribute of that noun. The list of descriptive adjectives is considered nearly unending, as there are adjectives to describe all nouns. Descriptive adjectives are primarily differentiated into simple adjectives and compound adjectives.

(1) 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

(2) 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 between the two adjectives. 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 beneficial 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.

The following are the lists of descriptive adjectives that are 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.

Descriptive Adjectives List

List of Adjectives Describing Appearance	List of Adjectives Describing Personality	List of Adjectives Describing Feelings
Adorable	Aggressive	Afraid
Attractive	Ambitious	Angry
Alluring	Amused	Anxious
Beautiful	Brave	Bad
Bewildered	Bright	Bored
Boorish	Barbarous	Berserk
Confident	Cruel	Calm
Cheerful	Combative	Confused
Cultured	Co-operative	Comfortable
Clumsy	Cowardly	Creepy
Drab	Dangerous	Depressed
Dull	Diligent	Disturbed
Dynamic	Determined	Dominating
Disillusioned	Disagreeable	Deceitful
Elegant	Evil	Envious
Energetic	Erratic	Elated
Fair	Frank	Faithful
Filthy	Fearless	Fine
Gentle	Generous	Good
Glamorous	Gifted	Grieving
Handsome	Helpful	Horrible
Homely	Harmonious	Happy
Hurt	Hesitant	Hungry
Ill-mannered	Instinctive	Ill
Jolly	Jealous	Jovial
Kind-hearted	Knowledgeable	Kind
Lovely	Loner	Lively
Magnificent	Mysterious	Mature
Nervous	Naughty	Nice
Pleasant	Pleasing	Proud
Perfect	Placid	Peaceful
Plucky	Punctual	Protective
Smiling	Successful	Sorrowful
Splendid	Sedate	Silly
Self-assured	Sincere	Somber
Snobbish	Selfish	Sore
Thoughtful	Talented	Tired
Tense	Thrifty	Troubled
Timid	Truculent	Testy
Upset	Unbiased	Unwell
Vivacious	Voracious	Vengeful
Wonderful	Witty	Wicked
Worried	Wise	Weary
Wild	Warm	Wrong
Zaftig	Zany	Zestful
e.g. What an adorable baby!	e.g. He was a brave knight.	e.g. She was in a jovial mood.

Following is a list of descriptive adjectives that describe shape, sound, size, time and quantity.

List of Adjectives Describing Shape	List of Adjectives Describing Size	List of Adjectives Describing Time	List of Adjectives Describing Quantity
Broad	Big	Ancient	Abundant
Crooked	Colossal	Annual	Bountiful
Circular	Great	Brief	Cumbersome
Distorted	Gigantic	Early	Empty
Flat	Huge	Fast	Extra
Hollow	Large	Late	Few
Narrow	Miniature	Modern	Heavy
Round	Mammoth	Old	Myriad
Square	Petite	Rapid	Many
Skinny	Tall	Swift	Multiple
Steep	Thin	Slow	Numerous
Wide	Tiny	Young	Substantial
e.g. A skinny boy	e.g. A miniature train	e.g. An ancient manuscript	e.g. Myriad stars

The following are lists of descriptive adjectives that describe sound, taste, touch and color.

List of Adjectives Describing Sound	List of Adjectives Describing Taste	List of Adjectives Describing Touch	List of Adjectives Describing Color
Blaring	Bitter	Hard	Azure
Cooing	Delicious	Loose	Aqua
Deafening	Fresh	Rough	Blue
Loud	Hot	Smooth	Black
Melancholic	Icy	Slippery	Crimson
Noisy	Juicy	Sticky	Cyan
Soft	Spicy	Sharp	Gold
Shrill	Sweet	Scattered	Green
Squeaking	Sour	Soft	Magenta
Silent	Salty	Tender	Orange
Thundering	Tasty	Uneven	Pink
Whispering	Tasteless	Wet	Turquoise
e.g. Blaring loudspeaker	e.g. Delicious pastry	e.g. Rough surface	e.g. Green diamond

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.
A nice, big bungalow.

All the above are examples of descriptive adjectives. 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 singe 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)
B is taller than A (comparative degree)
C is the tallest building (superlative degree)

Participial Adjectives
When participles express a quality of the nouns i.e. participles 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
We were bored at the program.

The above descriptive adjectives list is definitely helpful for anyone in order to express more about a person, thing, action, etc. in a better way. In order to improve your language and vocabulary, you can also look for synonyms of these adjectives and use them in speech or writing. Good luck!