Adjectives that start with P

Describing words, to help you tell someone else what something is like.

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P is for Painful

Something is painful if it hurts.

The man in the picture is having a a painful injection.

P is for Pale

Something is pale if it lacks color, or is close to white. The girl in the picture has pale skin. The opposite of pale is dark.

P is for Pastel

Something is pastel if it is a soft, pale color. Pastels are normally used on clothes and bedding for babies.

P is for Peaceful

Peaceful is a word that describes a calm and friendly place or situation. There is no fighting, no noise, and no anger.

P is for Pedantic

Someone is pedantic if they are overly concerned with the details of things, or getting things exactly perfect. The owner of this letterbox is pedantic.

P is for Peeled

Something is peeled if it has had its peel or skin removed.
Peeled is also the past tense of peel.

P is for Perfect

Something that is free of flaws and imperfections and cannot be made better in any way is perfect.

P is for Permanent

Something is permanent if it will last forever, or for a very, very long time. The hand prints made in the concrete in the picture will be there permanently.
The opposite of permanent is temporary.

P is for Pinned

Something is pinned if it is held in place by something, usually by a pin. You can pin something down without pins, for example "her hands were pinned to her sides".

P is for Plaintive

Something is plaintive if it has a sad, mournful tone to it.

P is for Playful

Playful means full of fun and not too serious. You may see a playful dog, child, or cat chasing a toy.

The word can also describe words or jokes that are light and friendly.

P is for Plucked

Something is plucked if it has had all the hair or feathers pulled out of it. Plucked is also the past tense of pluck.

P is for Plump

Plump means a little fat, but in a good way.

People often describe baby animals as plump.

P is for Pointless

Something is pointless if there is no reason for it to exist. A task is pointless if there is no reason to complete it.
The gate in the picture is pointless because you can just walk around it.

P is for Pointy

Something is pointy if one or more parts of it has an outwards-facing part with a sharp or acute angle.
The shoes in the photo are very pointy.

P is for Poisonous

Something is poisonous if it contains poison. Poison can make you very sick, or kill you. Poison needs to get inside you somehow to be dangerous. Poisonous mushrooms and berries are usually eaten, and poisonous insects and snakes inject poison when they bite you. The frog in the picture will poison anything that eats it, and people use the poison from the frog to put on arrows and darts to help them hunt.

P is for Poor

Someone is poor if they do not have much money. An area might be described as poor if it is run down and a lot of poor people live there.
You also use poor to describe something you feel sorry for. For example, if you see a hurt bird you might say "oh, look at the poor bird".

P is for Precious

Something is precious if it has a very high value, either a monetary value or some other kind of value. For example, a child is precious to its parents.
Prefabricated describes something that has been made for quick assembly or construction. Prefabricated homes are often called mobile homes because they can be transported whole, unlike normal homes which can't be moved.

P is for Premature

Premature means happening too early. It can describe something that starts, ends, or is done before the right time.

People use this to describe babies born before their due date, or for actions done too soon, like making a premature decision.