List 6 - Adjectives
Forming Adjectives
We can recognize most adjectives by their endings. Not all adjectives however have any kind of special endings.
al | accidental, central, musical, national, personal |
-ous | cautious, dangerous, famous, mountainous, poisonous |
-y | brainy, guilty, skinny, stormy, wavy |
-ry | angry, hungry, watery, weary, wintry |
-ful | forgetful, harmful, hopeful, joyful, lawful |
-ish | boyish, childish, girlish, selfish, yellowish |
-sy | choosy, lousy, messy, noisy, posy, nosy, |
-ar | circular, monocular, jugular, polar, vulgar, |
-ive | active, addictive, radioactive, successive, talkative |
-able | acceptable, accountable, agreeable, comfortable, lovable |
-ly | cowardly, fatherly, manly, sickly, smoothly, |
-ant | distant, intolerant, observant, pleasant, vigilant, |
-en | golden, modern, molten, wooden, woolen, |
-ic | academic, horrific, optimistic, organic, realistic, |
-ent | consistent, non-existent, potent, silent, violent, |
-some | handsome, loathsome, lonesome, meddlesome, quarrelsome |
-ible | accessible, discernible, responsible, reversible, sensible |
-ky | lucky, risky, silky, smoky, tricky |
-less | endless, meaningless, powerless, shameless, toothless, |
-ing | alarming, amazing, outstanding, satisfying, worrying |
-ed | amused, annoyed, old-fashioned, one-sided, shattered |
-hy | fishy, patchy, pushy, wealthy, worthy |
-ory | compulsory, laudatory, dilatory, mandatory, statutory, |
-ary | imaginary, necessary, ordinary, reactionary, voluntary, |
Adjectives ending in –ly
It is commonly known that most words ending in –ly are adverbs. Not all words ending in –ly are adverbs. A significant number of them are adjectives, which are often mistaken for adverbs. Following is a list of adjectives ending in -ly that, with a few exceptions, cannot be used as adverbs.
authorly | ghastly | monthly* | southerly |
beastly | ghostly | motherly | sparkly |
bodily | giggly | neighborly | spindly |
bristly | godly | nightly | sprightly |
bubbly | goodly | northeasterly | squiggly |
burly | gravelly | northerly | steely |
brotherly | grisly | northwesterly | stately |
chilly | heavenly | oily | surly |
comely | hilly | only | timely |
costly | holy | orderly | treacly |
courtly | homely | otherworldly | ugly |
cowardly | hourly | painterly | unearthly |
crinkly | housekeeperly | pearly | unfriendly |
crumbly | husbandly | pebbly | ungainly |
crumply | jolly | pimply | unlikely |
cuddly | kindly | poorly | unruly |
curly | kingly | priestly | unseemly |
daily* | leisurely | princely | unsightly |
dastardly | likely | quarterly | untimely |
deadly | lively | queenly | unworldly |
deathly | lonely | rumply | weekly* |
disorderly | lovely | saintly | westerly |
early | lowly | scaly | wifely |
earthly | maidenly | scholarly | wily |
easterly | manly | shapely | wobbly |
elderly | mannerly | sickly | womanly |
fatherly | masterly | silly | woolly |
fortnightly* | matronly | sisterly | worldly |
friendly | mealy | slatternly | wriggly |
frilly | measly | slovenly | wrinkly |
frizzly | melancholy | sly | yearly* |
gentlemanly | miserly | smelly | ------ |
*Can also be used as an adverb.
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