# Adjectives that modify only one noun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 1, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618 "2009-12-01T19:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/61 "2016-06-08T12:29:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Riddled with holes > Riddled with anxiety > Riddled with disease This is the only one of yours that doesn’t sound forced and out of place to me. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/62 "2016-06-08T13:10:15Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > And coster. Who would mong us our costers if we didn’t have costermongers? Ricky Gervais? ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/63 "2016-06-08T20:08:58Z")
> [@Kingspades](#): > > I can’t recall ever hearing anything other than iron being described as **wrought**. The first telegraph message ever sent was “What hath God wrought?” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/64 "2016-06-08T20:17:02Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > This is the only one of yours that doesn’t sound forced and out of place to me. You don’t read enough. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/65 "2016-06-08T21:22:40Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Bodacious ta-ta’s And, Snuffy Smif’s “Bodacious punkin haid”! > [@bibliophage](#): > > And coster. Who would mong us our costers if we didn’t have costermongers? Ah, yes. From Dorothy L. Sayer’s “Man With the Copper Fingers”. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/66 "2016-06-08T23:09:24Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > I haven’t heard of anything being “girded” other than loins. “His father’s sword he has girded on,” from “The Minstrel Boy” by Thomas Moore ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/67 "2016-06-08T23:16:31Z")
> [@Trepa\_Mayfield](#): > > …snip… > > The only things that are fraught are danger and fear, even though it’s just the past tense (or something) of freight. My mother was quite fond of saying, “Life is fraught with difficulties.” > [@Biffster](#): > > Riddled with bullets > (Not an adjective I know, but they go so well together) > …snip… Riddled with questions. > [@Yllaria](#): > > …snip… > But they do have **broach** , which goes with subject or topic. > …snip… If I may broach a question? > [@Ponch8](#): > > …snip… > Rain can dampen a lot of things, but one thing it never dampens is spirits. 😃 “That’s why they put them fancy _umber-ellas_ in yer drink. That way, when it rains, it don’t _die-loot_ the liquor!!” 😉 :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/68 "2016-06-08T23:32:56Z")
When she was a kid, my sister used to think that “soaking” meant “very”, because after all, “soaking wet” means “very wet”. So she used to say that she was “soaking happy”. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/69 "2016-06-08T23:58:35Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > And, Snuffy Smif’s “Bodacious punkin haid”! > . . . And now I have a filk earworm. "Oh, let me tell you all the story of the good ship Bodacious and it’s wonderful journey into space. . . . " I need to find that tape. (Sung to the tune of The M.T.A.) ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/70 "2016-06-09T04:10:03Z")
> [@Wash](#): > > Points seem to be the only things that are ever moot. Probably. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/71 "2016-06-09T04:17:44Z")
I’ve never heard ‘pained’ followed by anything other than ‘expression’ (well, except ‘look’ which is just a synonym for ‘expression’). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/72 "2016-06-09T04:36:08Z")
A pained grunt? A pained grimace? (That last is an expression, I know.) Moot? A: But I have my ticket! B: I’m afraid that’s moot, my friend. The boat already left. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/73 "2016-06-09T13:33:14Z")
Oh, the foibles of youth! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/74 "2016-06-09T13:33:31Z")
If I say “happily,” I’ll bet the first thing you think of is “married.” (Okay, not a noun, but it’s all I got.) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/75 "2016-06-09T14:11:39Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Link has died. [The Wayback Machine has it.](http://web.archive.org/web/20060314025351/http://www.gruts.com/misc/akimbos/akimbos.htm) > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Is anything immemorial but time? I know you mean _any word associated with time_, but I still can’t resist: [QUOTE=E. A. Poe] The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crispéd and sere— The leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year; … [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/76 "2016-06-09T14:36:24Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > The first telegraph message ever sent was “What hath God wrought?” Which, [according](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19388198&postcount=52) to **Northern Piper** , was invented by Marconi.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/77 "2016-06-09T14:43:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > If I say “happily,” I’ll bet the first thing you think of is “married.” > > (Okay, not a noun, but it’s all I got.) I think “ensconced”. But I’m divorced & pretentious, so it probably doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/78 "2016-06-09T19:19:30Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] I can’t recall anything pied is used with in modern language, other than the piper. It might really be more of a proper name than a adjective-noun combo though. [/QUOTE] It’s falling out of use thanks to fully electronic typesetting and platemaking, but type can be pied or mixed up such as this exam_p_le with the “is” set in a different face and the “p” is the one lone italic character. Back in the time of lead type, it was a sorting error when returning type to the case, but now, it pops up occasionally as a font substitution issue. [QUOTE=Arcite] Is anything other than a swoop ever described as fell? [/QUOTE] [Seams](http://www.datwiki.net/images2/Machine-sewn-seams.jpg). If you don’t recognize them from the cross-section pic, take a look at your jeans. My contribution to the list is “gubernatorial” which never seems to be used except to describe elections to select state governors. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/79 "2016-06-09T20:27:56Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > My contribution to the list is “ **gubernatorial** ” which never seems to be used except to describe elections to select state governors. Google autofill is really effective at for these. In time sequence: candidate campaign election appointment pardon ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618/80 "2016-06-09T20:33:58Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I can’t recall anything pied is used with in modern language, other than the piper. It might really be more of a proper name than a adjective-noun combo though. > [@Yllaria](#): > > Often used to describe birds and other animals. (Pied-billed Grebe, Pied Butcherbird, Pied Stilt, . . . ) There are at least 48 species of bird with “Pied” in their name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectives-that-modify-only-one-noun/519618.md?page=5)