appositive adjective

An appositive adjective is a descriptive word or phrase that follows a noun or pronoun and renames or provides additional information about it. These adjectives are set off by commas or dashes, distinguishing them from attributive adjectives that precede the noun. For example, in the sentence "The car, red and shiny, gleamed in the sun," the phrases "red and shiny" function as appositive adjectives modifying "car."1

An appositive itself is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun or noun phrase. When an adjective functions in this way, it's called an appositive adjective. The term "appositive" can also be used as an adjective to describe words, phrases, or clauses that stand in grammatical apposition.234