Adjectivation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of converting a noun, verb, or other part of speech into an adjective; the act of forming descriptive or qualifying words from different roots; the linguistic mechanism by which attributes or qualities are expressed in word form
2. The formation of attributive or descriptive modifiers from various word classes; turning words into adjectives to indicate characteristics or properties; a grammatical transformation producing qualifying terms
3. A morphological change where non-adjective words are changed into adjectives; the generation of words that describe or modify nouns; the practice of creating attributive forms to express qualities or states

Etymology: The word is built from "adjective," which comes from Latin "adjectivus," meaning "added" or "attached to." That Latin word derives from "adjicere," "to throw toward" (from "ad," "to," and "jacere," "to throw"), so the grammatical sense grew from the idea of a word thrown alongside a noun to qualify it. "Adjectivation" adds the suffix "-ation," inherited through French from Latin "-atio," which forms nouns of process or result from verbs. Put together, it names the process of turning another kind of word into an adjective, or the result of that process. Linguists more often write "adjectivization" for the same idea, and the term is mainly used in grammatical and linguistic writing.

Synonyms: adjectivization, adjective formation