Definition:
A combination of words that serves as a single adjective. As a general rule, the words in a compound adjective are hyphenated when they come before a noun (a well-known product) but not when they come after (The product is well known).
Examples and Observations:
- "Women's sexy underwear is a minor but significant growth industry of late-twentieth-century Britain in the twilight of capitalism."
(Angela Carter) - "It is your original ethnic theme park. I could eat the air, food-promise-crammed. Street life chugs, as thick and rich as arterial blood. Guitar-twang speech, a harmonic convergence of it, is all around."
(D. Keith Mano, "There's More to Chinatown," The New York Times, April 24, 1988) - "The cutting edge is quite straight and well polished, and as keen as when it was finished."
(Robert Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, 1878) - "Another well-polished asset, [Gordon] Brown's reputation for sound economic stewardship, has become ever more tarnished."
(Catherine Mayer, "Gordon Brown in America," Time magazine, April 16, 2008) - "Adverbs that do not end in -ly may take the hyphen to form a compound adjective. The reason is obvious. A fast-moving script suggests a roller coaster plot while a fast moving script might have pace but it is emotionally charged (i.e., emotionally moving) at the same time."
(Bruce Grundy, So You Want to be a Journalist? Cambridge University Press, 2007) - "In the 19th century, before the science of archaeology became well developed, the Ottomans laid out the brick and concrete city that stands today."
(Scott Macleod, "Alexandria Rising," Time magazine, June 15, 1998) - "A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life."
(William Arthur Ward)
Also Known As: phrasal adjective
