What Are Absolute Adjectives?

These descriptors, also called non-gradable adjectives, embody a quality that is 100 percent in degree. Can a person be more than 100 percent alive? less? more than 100 percent pregnant?

By definition, absolutes shouldn’t be modified by qualifiers. That includes adverbs very, really, approximately, rather, quite, almost, and their cousins.

Prefixes Provide Clues

Exercise caution whenever you see adjectives that start with the following prefixes.

an: not, without
anti: against
de: opposite
dis: not, opposite of
ever: always, continuously
il, im, in, ir: not
mis: wrongly
non: not
omni: all
over: over, too much
pre: before
super: above, beyond
un: not, opposite of
under: under, too little
whole: completely, all

Examples:

anhydrous: containing no water
Can a substance contain approximately no water? Very no water?

anti-abortion: opposing or against abortion
A person can be anti-abortion or pro-abortion. You might describe someone as rabidly anti-abortion to show zeal, but very anti-abortion is weak writing. People are pro- or anti-, but not very pro- or extremely anti- anything.

nonfat: containing no fat
Could you ever describe a dish as really nonfat? Rather nonfat? A food contains fat or it doesn’t. Period.

uncolored: having no color; colorless
If something has the slightest tinge of color, you can’t refer to it as uncolored. You might describe it as barely pink or off-white, but never quite uncolored.

overjoyed: filled with great joy
Can someone be any more joyful than overjoyed? Can a stove be more heated than overheated? Can a lesson be more simple than oversimplified?

Suffixes Also Indicate Absolutes

able, ible: capable of being
est: the most
free: free of, free from
ful: full of
less: without
worthy: deserving of, fit for

If a planet is airless, can it have any air? If tea is caffeine-free, can it be described as fairly caffeine-free? Can a wonderful writer be more wonderful than a colleague?

Pay Attention to Colors

Black is black and white is white. Astute writers avoid phrases such as really black and very white. You’re creative enough to invent something different, aren’t you?

Which do you prefer?

Brandon’s very black eyes filled me with fear.

Brandon’s eyes glowed as black as his traitorous heart, overwhelming me with fear.

The second example bestows a degree of blackness to Brandon’s eyes by comparing them to his personality. Although traitorous heart is a tell, you might need several paragraphs to describe why the narrator thinks Brandon is a traitor. Instead, you could exploit the description as foreshadowing or a transition into backstory.

Serena’s dress was so white and tight that it turned the head of every man in the room.

Serena’s dress hugged her curves, a frosty web of white singing a siren song to every man in the room.

A frosty web of white presents a vivid image. Much better than so white, don’t you think?

Colors are vibrant. They tinge, saturate, and radiate. Deep red is weak. Alternatives could be black-cherry red, wound red, or beet red.

If you have a Pinterest account, try searching for your target color with a phrase such as “things that are [INSERT COLOR].”

Speaking of Pinterest, please pay me a visit. You’ll find me at Pinterest.com/KathySWriter.

Absolute Adjectives Shouldn’t Mix With Comparative and Superlative

You can’t have a completer, more complete, or completest/most complete result. There is no such thing as a wronger, more wrong, or wrongest/most wrong opinion.

A lover might tell a woman she’s the “most perfect beauty on Earth,” but a writer shouldn’t describe her that way except in dialogue.

Never use more with the comparative or most with the superlative. Avoid phrases like more obscurer and most obscurest, even in dialogue, unless your character is woefully uneducated.

Watch for the Following Words

Scrutinize your writing. Although you might wish to modify these adjectives, they usually function better on their own.

Unless your intent is to make a point with sarcasm or irony, consider the examples in this list as absolutes, and don’t precede them with adverbs of degree.

A
absent, absolute, accurate, active, acute, adequate, adjacent, adjoining, alert, alive, ample, ancient, animated, apparent, authorized, avoidable, awake, aware, awash, away

B
basic, beaten, best, black, blank, blameless, boiling, bottommost, boundless, brimming, broken

C
central, certain, chief, cognizant, collective, common, communal, comparable, complete, conclusive, confirmed, conscious, contiguous, correct, critical, crucial, crushed

D
dead, defeated, defective, deficient, definite, destroyed, devastated, devoid, different, dire, dispensable, domestic, drenched

E
effective, empty, enough, entire, equal, equivalent, essential, established, eternal, everyday, everything, evident, exact, expendable, extensive, extinct

F
faithful, faithless, false, fatal, faulty, figuratively, final, finest, finite, first, fixed, flat, flawless, foreign, foremost, foreseeable, freezing, frequent, full, functional, fundamental

G and H
gone, grave, greatest, guilty, guiltless, halfway, harmless, hopeful, hopeless

I
ideal, identical, immediate, imminent, immortal, imperfect, impossible, inaccurate, inactive, inaccurate, inadequate, incomparable, incomplete, inconsistent, incorrect, incorrigible, incurable, indispensable, individual, inert, inevitable, inexact, inferior, infinite, informed, ingrained, innermost, innocent, insincere, insufficient, intact, intelligible, intentional, invalid, invulnerable, irrefutable, irregular, irrevocable

J to L
joint, key, known, lacking, last, left, lighted, lightless, literally, local, lowermost

M
main, major, malfunctioning, manifest, married, matching, matchless, maximal, meaningful, meaningless, melting, merciless, middle, midway, mindful, minimal, minor, missing, mortal, multiple, mutual

N
necessary, needless, nethermost, nuclear

O
obscure, obvious, off, omnipotent, omnipresent, on, opaque, operational, opposite, outermost, outright, overall, overflowing, overheated, overjoyed, overstocked, overwhelmed

P
packed, paramount, partial, passable, perfect, perpetual, pivotal, popular, possible, powerless, precise, predominant, preeminent, pregnant, premeditated, present, preventable, primary, primitive, principal, private, proximate, public, pure

R
rare, redundant, replete, requited, revocable, right, round, rudimentary, ruined, ruthless

S
satisfactory, saturated, secondary, sentient, set, shattered, sheer, sighted, silent, sincere, single, singular, smashed, soaked, sopping, spotless, square, starving, stationary, staunch, straight, straightforward, successful, sufficient, suitable, superfluous, superior, superlative, supreme, sure, surplus, swarming

T
teeming, temporary, tertiary, thorough, topmost, total, transparent, true

U
ultimate, unanimous, unavoidable, unblemished, unbounded, unbroken, unclear, unclouded, unconditional, undecided, unequal, unequivocal, unforeseeable, uniform, unimportant, uninformed, unique, universal, unknown, unlimited, unmarried, unnecessary, unpopular, unprecedented, unqualified, unquestionable, unrequited, unsighted, unsuccessful, up, utter

V and W
valid, valuable, valueless, vital, void, vulnerable, waterlogged, weighted, weightless, white, whole, widespread, willful, worst, wrecked, wrong