nongradable

Nongradable, or nongradable, is a term used in linguistics to describe adjectives that do not readily take comparative or superlative forms and do not participate in degree-based modification on a standard scale. Such adjectives are often said to express absolute states or properties that are binary or categorical, rather than variable along a continuum. They stand in contrast to gradable adjectives, which describe qualities that can be more or less of a given attribute.

In usage, nongradable adjectives typically resist the usual degree markers like more, less, -er, or -est. They may still be intensified with adverbs such as completely, utterly, or absolutely, but this intensification does not reflect a genuine scale comparison. For example, one might say that a proposition is true or false, but not that it is “more true” in a straightforward sense. Some adjectives commonly treated as nongradable in traditional descriptions include unique, impossible, identical, and true, though exact lists vary by grammar tradition and dialect.

The classification is not absolute and can be context-dependent. Some adjectives considered nongradable in one register or dialect may appear gradable in another, especially in metaphorical or specialized usage. The concept of nongradability helps explain why certain predicates resist degree-marking and how their semantics influence sentence structure, negation, and focus strategies.

See also: gradable adjective, degree adverb, absolute adjective.