compound adjectives

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Compound adjectives 
A compound adjective is an adjective which is made up of two parts and is usually written 
with a hyphen, e.g. well-dressed, never-ending and shocking-pinkdts meaning is usually 
dear from the words it combines. The second part of the corripound adjective is frequently a 
present or past participle. 
A large number of compound adjec~ives 
describe personal appearance. 
Here is a rather far-fetched description of 
a person starting from the head clown. 
-Tom wae a curly-halred, sun-tanned, 
blue-eyed, rosy·oheeked, thln llpped, 
broad·shouldered, left-handed, s/lm·Hlpped, 
long·legged, flat-footed young man, ' 
wearing an open·necked ehlrt, brand-new, 
tlght-flttlng jeans and open·toed san.dais. 
~ ...... 
'h 
Another set of compound adjectives describes a person's character. He.re is a rather light- , 
hearted description of a girl. The meanings are explained in brackets. ¡_. 
Melissa was absent-minded fforgetful], easy-going [~elaxed], good-tempered [cheerful], ¡· 
warm-he'arted [kind] and quick-witted [intelligent] if p~rhaps a little big-headed [proud of r 
herself], two-faced [hypocritical], self-centred [egotistical] and stuck-up [snóbbish L 
(colloquial)J at times. ~-
Another special group of compound adjectives are those where the second part is a 
preposition. Sorne of these adjectives are listed below with a typical noun. 
an all-out sttike [total] a bwnt-out car [nothing left in it after a fireJ 
a broken-down bus [it won't work] , a built-up area [lots of buildings in it] 
a hard-up student [poor J cast-off clothes [ no longer wanted by the owner] 
worn:..out shoes [can't be worn any more; of people - exhausted] 
a drive-in ínovie [you watch from your car] well-off bankers [wealthy] 
a run-down area [in poor condition] 
Here are sorne other useful compound adjectives. 
air-conditioned bullet-proof 
duty-free hand-made 
long-distance long-standing 
record-breaking remote-controlled 
sugar-free time-consuining 
cut-price 
interest-free 
off-peak 
second-class 
top-secret 
drip-dry 
Jast-minute 
part-time 
so-called 
world-famous 
You can vary the compound adjectives listed by changing one part of the adjective. For 
example, curly-haired, long-haired, red-haired an:d straight-haired; fust-hand (knowledge), 
first-class (ticket) and first-born (child). 
English Vocabulary in Use 
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·12.1 
Exercises Q> 
· d d. ctive Use a dictionary if ne \; 
Fill each of the blanks to forro a new compoun ª Je · cess~.\ 
1. - 5 ..... ... .... ..... 
r \ ... ... .. d 
· ···· ··· ··· ·· ······ ······ - ma e r - eyed ............ ........ . ···· 
t ► • I 1 • 1 a t • t I O • • e I t I I I I I O 1 
..... ··· ········· ... ... . . 
2 ....................... .. /1 -
- proof 
6 ................... .... .. 
······ ·· ······ ··· ··· · .... - free 
. ········ ·· ······ ········· 
3 ...... ... . ··· ·· ········ .. 
- minded 
7 .. ..................... .. 
··············· ........ ,. - headed 
·············· .......... . ·· ·· ····· ·········· ... , .. 
4 .. : .. .................. .. 8 ....................... .. 
························· - necked ······ ····· ···· ···· ·· .... - hearted 
··· ···· ······ ······ ······ 
Put the words in E oppósite into any categories ~hich will help you learn them. 
Listas many.compound adjectives beginning with sel{, as you can. Mark them Por N for. 
· positive or negative characteristics, or write neutral. 
Answer the questiÓns by using a compound adjective which is opposite in meaning to the l 
adjective in the question. Note that the answer niay or ~ay· not have the same second ( 
element as the. adjective in the question. 
Example: Is he working full-time? No, part-time. 
1 Isn't she rather short-sighted? 4 Are her shoes high-heeled? 
.2 Is your brother well-off? 5 Is this vase mass-produced? 
3 Would you say the bois well-behaved? 6 Do they live in south-east England? 
( 
Think of two nouns that would frequently'be associated with any ten of the compound . ( 
· adjectives listed in E opposite. · 
Add a preposition from the list below to complete appropriate compound adjectives. 
back up out off on of 
·· - 1 She's been doing the same low-paid job for so long that she's really fed-
..... ........... with it now. 
2 The two cars were involved in a head-... .......... ... collision. 
3 He has a very casual, laid-.. .... .. .. ... ... . approach to life in general. 
4 It'll never happen again. It's definitely a one-............ .... situation. 
5 He's a smash hit here but he's urtheard-.... .. .. ..... ... in my country. 
6 She bought a cut-...... .. .... ... . paper pattern and made her own dress. 
Which of the adjectives from tbis unit could you use to describe yourself and other srudent. 
in your class or memhers of your family? • ' 
l.