This page gives the definitions and meanings of some
less-known adjectives. (It's like Definitions
and Meanings, but for adjectives.)
Last but two |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Antepenultimate |
Capable of being broken down by living organisms |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Biodegradable |
Capable of being drawn to a longer length without breaking |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Ductile |
Choosing the best from everything |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Eclectic |
Ploughed land that hasn’t been tilled or sown for at least one year |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Fallow |
Describes a domestic animal gone wild |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Feral |
Describes the Moon when more than half illuminated (from the Latin for "humped") |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Gibbous |
Means 'of or relating to a governor' – especially in American politics |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Gubernatorial |
Describes full–cream milk that's been processed in a way that stops the cream from rising to the top |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Homogenised |
Capable of grasping (particularly applied to the tails of certain animals, especially monkeys; also related to a
verb meaning to grasp something mentally) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Prehensile |
Describes an offering to a supernatural being (in Christian worship, usually used for candles lit to offer a
prayer for the dead) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Votive |
Abyssal: of or pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
The bottom of the ocean |
Aeolian: of or pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Wind |
Alate: having |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Wings |
Alluvial |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Deposited by rivers or floods |
Aneroid |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Without air |
Anthropophagous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Man–eating |
Arboreal: of or pertaining to (esp. living in) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Trees |
Brachial: pertaining to the |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Arm(s) |
Cadasteral (map) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Large scale (shows individual properties) |
Cardiform |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Heart–shaped |
Caseous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Cheesy |
Ceraceous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Waxy |
Cordate |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Heart–shaped |
Cerulean (sih–ROO–lee–uhn) is a shade of |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Blue |
Congruous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Suitable |
Crapulous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Drunk |
|
Crepuscular: relating to the time of |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Twilight |
Dirigible |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Capable of being steered |
Diurnal |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Daily (by day) |
|
Edentate (of a type of animal) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Lacking teeth |
Edentulous (of a person) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Lacking teeth |
Eidetic |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Vividly clear (esp. as in memory) |
Ephemeral (precise original meaning) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Lasting only one day |
Episcopal: of or pertaining to a |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Bishop |
Epistolary (of a novel or poem) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Written as a series of letters |
Equi–pondurate |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Of equal weight |
Friable |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Easily crumbled or powdered |
Gravid |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Pregnant |
Hebdomadal |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Weekly |
Hepatic: pertaining to the (bodily organ) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Liver |
Hibernal: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Winter |
Hippocrepian |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Horseshoe–shaped |
Immutable |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Unchanging |
Inchoate (of a document – will, etc.) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Incomplete |
Infundibular |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Funnel–shaped |
Jovial: of or pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Jupiter (leader of the Roman gods) |
Labial: pertaining to the |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Lips |
Lapidarian: of or pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Stones |
Ligneous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Woody |
Littoral: of or pertaining to a |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Shore |
Loquacious |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Talkative |
Maigre (of a diet): contains no |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Meat |
Marmoreal: of or pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Marble |
Melanistic |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Black (in biology – having excess melanin) |
Mendacious |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Lying, deceitful |
Mendicant |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Begging |
Miscible |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Capable of mixing |
Monomymous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Known by a one-word name (e.g. Elvis, Eusebio, Hitler) |
Motley (used as an adjective) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Multicoloured or heterogeneous |
Nubile |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Marriageable (suitable for marriage) |
Occipital: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
The back of the head |
Olfactory: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Smell (sense of) |
Otic: pertaining to (part of body) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
The ear |
Paschal: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Easter (or Passover) |
Pectoral: of or pertaining to the |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Chest |
Pellucid |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Translucent |
Piliferous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Hairy |
Plantar: of or pertaining to the |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Sole(s) of the foot (or feet) |
Pluvial: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Rainfall |
Potable |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Drinkable |
Prandial: pertaining to a |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Meal (especially dinner) |
Prognathous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
With projecting jaw |
Prurient |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Itching (hence uneasily or morbidly interested) |
Puerpal: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Childbirth |
Quotidian |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Daily; ordinary, commonplace, or everyday |
Raptorial (bird) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
(Bird) of prey |
Reniform |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Kidney–shaped |
Rhinal |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Pertaining to the nose |
Riparian: pertaining to a |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Riverbank |
Sacerdotal |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Priestly |
Saliferous: containing or producing |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Salt |
Saponaceous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Soapy |
Sororal |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Sisterly |
Terpsichorean: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Dance |
Thalassic: of or pertaining to the |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Sea |
Unciform |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Hook–shaped |
Unctuous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Slippery, greasy |
Untrammelled |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Unrestrained |
Uxorial: pertaining to a |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Wife |
Valedictory (message) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Farewell |
Venial |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Pardonable (of a sin: not mortal) |
Vernal: pertaining to |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Spring |
Velutinous |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Covered with short, dense, silky, upright hairs; soft and velvety |
Wych (as in wych–hazel, wych–elm etc.) |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Pliant (branches) |
Xiphoid |
![Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer](../Query4.jpg) |
Sword–shaped |