adjective
n. countablen. a word that describes a person, place, or thing. It gives more information about a noun, like its size, colour, or feeling.
n. a word belonging to a major grammatical category that modifies a noun or pronoun. It typically describes a quality, state, or quantity of the entity it modifies.
In the phrase 'red car', the word 'red' is an adjective.
When writing a descriptive essay, using a strong adjective helps the reader picture the scene more clearly.
While novice writers often rely on a string of weak adjectives to convey emotion, experienced authors prefer precise verbs and concrete nouns to achieve the same effect.
From Middle English adjectif, adjective, from Old French adjectif, from Latin adiectivus, from adiciō + -īvus, from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + iaciō (“throw”). The Latin word adiectivus in turn was a calque of Ancient Greek ἐπιθετικόν (epithetikón, “added”), a derivative of the compound verb ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi), from which also comes epithet.
In English, typically precedes the noun it modifies (attributive position) or follows a linking verb (predicative position).