Notes - Compound Adjective

What are compound adjectives?

A compound adjective is formed when two or more adjectives are joined together to modify the same noun. These terms should be hyphenated to avoid confusion or ambiguity. For example:

1. I love this brightly-lit room!
2. Danny’s dog is well-behaved.
3. You have to be open-minded about things.

Compound adjectives – Exceptions

Note that combining an adverb and an adjective does not create a compound adjective. No hyphen is required because it is already clear that the adverb modifies the adjective rather than the subsequent noun. For example:

1.      It was a terribly hot day.

2.      It is an amazingly good idea.