A phrasal adjective (also known as an adjective phrase or compound adjective) is a phrase that modifies a noun.
Phrasal adjective hyphenation
When a phrasal adjective precedes a noun, it usually takes a hyphen or, for phrases of three or more words, hyphens. This makes things easier for your reader and helps prevent miscues—for example:
razor-sharp wit
over-the-top characters
larger-than-life personality
The same phrases are unhyphenated when they come after what they modify—for example:
His wit was razor sharp.
The characters were over the top.
His personality was larger than life.
We make exceptions for phrasal adjectives beginning with -ly adverbs. These are conventionally unhyphenated—for example:
poorly run bank
closely held positions
When two closely related phrasal adjectives have similar ending elements, remove the ending element from the first phrase and leave the hyphen, like so:
the four- or five-year-old girl
Phrasal adjectives and units
When a phrasal adjective denotes an amount, a number, or a duration, the unit is singular—for example:
the four-story, 50-unit complex
65.5-million-dollar projection
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