Using adjectives provide additional information about a person, location, animal, and even objects. For instance, adjectives that start with R can be “raw,” “realistic,” and “recognizable.” Here is a list of adjectives that start with A-Z.
Adjectives That Start With A
Literature would be sterile without descriptive words. Adding words like abrasive to describe a person gives a good image of that person’s character. An abrasive person is irritating or annoying.
- Aghast
- Ajar
- Akimbo
- Alluvial
- Askew
- Astringent
- Atilt
- Awry
Adjectives That Start With B
When you use the word burly to describe a man, you create a mind image of a thick-bodied individual, usually muscular. Adding blistering to the noun heat ups the temperature considerably.
- Baleful
- Bellicose
- Berserk
- Billowy
- Boisterous
- Boorish
- Brutish
- Bumbling
Adjectives That Start With C
Writing about cute puppies makes them bland. But if they are clumsy and cuddly, your reader pictures adorable dogs and wants to see them. A wild storm conjures up images of downed trees and rain. A catastrophic storm is a hurricane.
- Cackling
- Capricious
- Cavalier
- Clamoring
- Clandestine
- Cloistered
- Cowering
- Cryptic
Adjectives That Start With D
A bad person could be described as deplorable or dislikeable, but an evil person is depraved or demonic. A dilapidated house is falling apart. There is a multitude of D adjectives from daffy to dysfunctional.
- Daft
- Dawdling
- Debonair
- Decadent
- Demure
- Disgruntled
- Doleful
- Dulcet
Adjectives That Start With E
Examples of descriptive words that start with E are earthy and edible, which could describe mushrooms. Similar adjectives are used to describe different nouns. An electric razor is distinct from an electrifying performance.
- Ebullient
- Efficacious
- Effusive
- Egalitarian
- Emaciated
- Euphoric
- Evocative
- Exuberant
Adjectives Starting With F
F adjectives are fabulous for depicting people. A man can be fuming if he’s angry or foolhardy if he takes risks. Descriptive words can also tell you the person’s origin: Filipino from the Philippines, French from France.
- Fallacious
- Fathomless
- Feckless
- Fecund
- Fervent
- Fervid
- Fetid
- Frumpy
Adjectives Starting With G
Galling, garrulous, and genial are wonderful words to illustrate a character. A young boy might be gawky, while a gifted actress is glamorous. If you want to write a love letter, you need to have plenty of glittery and gorgeous adjectives handy.
- Gabled
- Galvanic
- Garish
- Gauche
- Ghastly
- Gibbous
- Glib
- Guileless
Adjectives Starting With H
Humans tend to be hypersensitive, hypercritical, and often hurtful, but some of them are heroes and need to be portrayed as such. H adjectives are helpful in writing or in playing word games.
- Haggard
- Haphazard
- Hair-brained
- Heinous
- Heuristic
- Hubristic
- Huffy
- Humdrum
Adjectives Starting With I
I words can be poetic, as in iambic, idyll, and idiom. Complimentary I words are ingenious, industrious, and influential. Romance is enhanced with words like impassioned, intense, and irresistible.
- Immaculate
- Impeccable
- Incoherent
- Indelible
- Inert
- Injudicious
- Innate
- Inscrutable
Adjectives Starting With J
Judicious use of J adjectives can spice up a poem or a blog with words such as jittery, jingling, or jocular. There aren’t as many J words, but there are some jazzy, jovial, and jumpy ones.
- Jabbering
- Jaded
- Jammed
- Jangly
- Jarring
- Jaunty
- Jeering
- Jumbled
Adjectives That Start With K
K words, like J words, are not common. Keel, kelpie, and kelp are words of the sea. Karma is what you sometimes find waiting for you. Kooky K adjectives include kinky, klutzy, and knavish.
- Kabalistic
- Kinky
- Knackered
- Knightly
- Knobby
- Knotty
- Kooky
- Kyphotic
Adjectives Starting with L
There are lots of L words. Life and love both start with L and can be either laconic or luxurious or even lyrical. L adjectives can add excitement and appeal to your writing which might otherwise be lacking.
- Lackluster
- Laconic
- Lissome
- Lithe
- Livid
- Loathsome
- Loquacious
- Lugubrious
Adjectives Starting With M
M words are myriad, and some can modify any noun. For example, mythical creatures like the manticore can be mystical and mysterious or mischievous and melodramatic.
- Macabre
- Marauding
- Mellifluous
- Mellowed
- Meteoric
- Miasmal
- Moonstruck
- Morose
Adjectives Starting with N
N words can be nasty, naughty, or nice. People can be nostalgic, noteworthy, notorious, or nosey. N adjectives tend to have more negative connotations than positive ones, especially regarding people.
- Nacreous
- Natty
- Nebulous
- Negligible
- Nihilistic
- Nimble
- Nonplussed
- Noxious
Adjectives Starting With O
Terms that start with O are common but can be outlandish or offbeat. Have you thought that you could be more outspoken in your social media posts? With O adjectives, you can make them outstanding.
- Obdurate
- Obstreperous
- Odious
- Officious
- Ominous
- Opprobrious
- Ostensible
- Overzealous
Adjectives Starting With P
P words are plentiful. Here we have just a few good ones. There are many more. Used for poetry, novels, short stories, or Scrabble, P terms will describe almost anything you want.
- Pallid
- Pejorative
- Penurious
- Peruked
- Petulant
- Placating
- Potable
- Putrid
Adjectives Starting With Q
Words that start with Q are sometimes quaint, quotidian, or quizzical but not great in quantity. Q adjectives are rare, but there are several excellent ones. They shouldn’t be overlooked.
- Quaggy
- Quarrelsome
- Quavering
- Queasy
- Quelled
- Quenchless
- Quicksilver
- Quirky
Adjectives Starting With R
Adjectives start with R abound and are multi-faceted; some describe a person while others are for objects. Here are some of them:
- Rabid
- Radiant
- Rakish
- Rampant
- Rapturous
- Ravening
- Realistic
- Reasonable
- Regular
- Repugnant
- Remarkable
- Reigning
- Rhapsodic
- Ribald
Adjectives That Start With S
Some words are similar, like serene and sedate or silly and senseless. S words are common, and there is a slew of S adjectives, like savory to describe a taste, scrumptious to tell how delicious something is, or sleek for an otter.
- Salacious
- Scabrous
- Sepulchral
- Sibilant
- Skanky
- Smoldering
- Stentorian
- Staunch
Adjectives That Start With T
Adjectives beginning with T can be tactful, tantalizing, or tawdry. T words to describe someone are thrifty, thwarted, and tough. There are tons of T terms to choose from.
- Taunting
- Tenacious
- Tepid
- Toadyish
- Tortuous
- Tranquil
- Tsarist
- Turbid
Adjectives Starting with U
U adjectives are unusual, not ubiquitous. The U list would be very short except for the prefix un-. Unbeatable, unexplained, unimpressive, and unrelenting are just a few of the uncountable adjectives starting with un.
- Ulterior
- Unapproachable
- Unbridled
- Undismayed
- Unerring
- Unkempt
- Unmitigated
- Usurious
Adjectives Starting With V
V adjectives are very few in number because V words, in general, are not common. But terms like vindictive, virtuous, and vile can help you spice up your tweets or add intensity to your writing.
- Vacuous
- Venal
- Verbose
- Versatile
- Vitriolic
- Vivacious
- Voluble
- Vulpine
Adjectives Starting With W
W words can add wit and wizardry to your sentences. The prefix well accounts for many of the adjectives, as in well-being, well-honed, and well-read. Stay away from worn-out phrases, though.
- Walleyed
- Wavering
- Weatherly
- Whorled
- Willowy
- Wizened
- Woozy
- Wraithlike
Adjectives Starting With X
X words are rare and adjectives starting with X are even rarer. X-ray, xanthoderma, xenoglossia, and xiphoid are all medical terms, as are many of the other X words.
- Xanthous
- Xenophobic
Adjectives Start With Y
Y is like several of the letters at the end of the alphabet. There aren’t that many words and relatively few adjectives. From yappy to yummy, descriptive y terms often are associated with yellow or young.
- Yawning
- Yelled
- Yielded
- Yonder
- Youthful
Adjectives Starting With Z
Z, the last letter in the alphabet, is not as popular as those at the beginning. Z adjectives are uncommon, but there are some zesty ones like zany and zonked. Don’t overlook the Z words.
- Zaftig
- Zany
- Zealous
- Zestful
- Zigzag
- Zippy