Compound Adjectives in English

 

Vocabulary Builder Course
Have you ever noticed some English words with hyphens between them? For example:

•  a well-known author
•  an English-speaking country
•  a three-hour movie
•  a part-time job
•  a middle-aged woman

These are called compound adjectives – meaning an adjective that has two or more words.

In this lesson, you’re going to learn some of the most compound adjectives with example sentences.

Compound Adjectives with Numbers

• three-second
  There’s a three-second delay.
• ten-minute
  Let’s take a ten-minute break.
• two-hour
  She attended a two-hour seminar.
• five-day
  He went on a five-day trip.
• six-week
  We took a six-week course.
• one-month
  The penalty for cheating is a one-month suspension.
• two-year
  I have a two-year contract with my cell phone provider.
• four-year-old
  I have a four-year-old son.
• twelve-storey
  We live in a twelve-storey apartment building
• twenty-page
  He handed me a twenty-page report.

Common Error: adding -S

Don’t use -s at the end of compound adjectives with numbers:

• Let’s take a ten-minutes break.
• Let’s take a ten-minute break.

Adjective / Adverb + Past Participle

• narrow-minded = not open to different ideas/thoughts
  I can’t stand narrow-minded people who are intolerant of new ideas.
• well-behaved
  They have three well-behaved children.
• old-fashioned
  We had lunch in an old-fashioned restaurant with décor from the 1950s.
• densely-populated
  This densely-populated area has the highest crime rates in the country.
• short-haired
  He was dancing with a short-haired woman.
• widely-recognized
  She’s a widely-recognized expert in technology.
• high-spirited = with a lot of energy
  The students gave a high-spirited musical performance.
• well-educated
  A lot of well-educated people are still having trouble finding jobs.
• highly-respected
  Our speaker tonight is a highly-respected scholar.
• brightly-lit
  We live on a brightly-lit street in the city center.
• absent-minded = forgetful, not thinking
  His absent-minded comment hurt his sister’s feelings.
• strong-willed = strong desires, stubborn, does not desist
  She’s a strong-willed woman who won’t stop until she gets what she wants.
• quick-witted = intelligent, clever, fast at thinking and discovering things
  The quick-witted detective solved the crime before anyone else had a clue.
• middle-aged = around 40-50 years old
  A lot of middle-aged men are dissatisfied with their lives.
• kind-hearted = friendly
  A kind-hearted stranger helped us find the train station.

Adjective / Adverb / Noun + Present Participle (-ING)

• good-looking = attractive, beautiful, handsome
  Who’s that good-looking guy over there?
• long-lasting
  This long-lasting makeup will keep you looking lovely day and night.
• record-breaking
  The athlete’s record-breaking performance won him the gold medal.
• never-ending
  Learning a language seems to be a never-ending process.
• mouth-watering
  There was a variety of mouth-watering desserts at the wedding reception.
• thought-provoking
  It was a thought-provoking novel.
• slow-moving
  I was stuck in slow-moving traffic for over an hour.
• far-reaching
  The new law will have far-reaching effects in the economy.
• time-saving
  These time-saving techniques will help you work more efficiently.
• forward-thinking
  Some forward-thinking politicians are proposing reforms to the educational system.

Other Compound Adjectives

• ice-cold
  There’s nothing better than drinking an ice-cold lemonade on a hot summer day.
• last-minute
  I hate it when my boss wants to make last-minute changes to a publication.
• full-length
  The director produced his first full-length movie in 1998.
• world-famous
  We had dinner at a world-famous Italian restaurant.
• fat-free
  These fat-free cookies are delicious!

When to use a hyphen?

Use a hyphen when the compound adjective comes BEFORE the noun it modifies, but not when it comes AFTER the noun.

This is a world-famous museum.
This museum is world famous.

We walked into a brightly-lit room.
We walked into a room that was brightly lit.

It was quite a thought-provoking book.
The book was quite thought provoking.

Learn more: 100 common adjectives in English