'Well-read' and its class
According to my understanding, English adjectives derived from past participles usually carry a meaning of passitive voice relating to the nominal phrases that they modify, such as ' a well-designed startpage', ' a carefully folded sheet'.

But there are some (not many----am I right?) where there is no meaning of passive voice, but there is meaning of active voice, for example, ' a well-read and cultured woman', where 'read' in 'well-read' does not mean the woman is read but means she reads a lot.

I once met such a word of the same type, but I cannot recall it now, when I was greatly confused. And now I see 'well-read', I decide that this is a 'special' class of words.

Could you please give some other words of the same class? It's better that the words are commonly used. ( If no other commonly used ones, please give any as you know).

Besides, if you give some more explanation of this kind of words, I'll be grateful.

Question

'Well-read' and its class
According to my understanding, English adjectives derived from past participles usually carry a meaning of passitive voice relating to the nominal phrases that they modify, such as ' a well-designed startpage', ' a carefully folded sheet'.

But there are some (not many----am I right?) where there is no meaning of passive voice, but there is meaning of active voice, for example, ' a well-read and cultured woman', where 'read' in 'well-read' does not mean the woman is read but means she reads a lot.

I once met such a word of the same type, but I cannot recall it now, when I was greatly confused. And now I see 'well-read', I decide that this is a 'special' class of words.

Could you please give some other words of the same class? It's better that the words are commonly used. ( If no other commonly used ones, please give any as you know).

Besides, if you give some more explanation of this kind of words, I'll be grateful.

Answer

"Well-read" is a combination of adverb+ participle, so it's a compound adjective. Compund adjectives don't necessarily have a passive meaning. Here you have some other examples: "deeply-rooted", "much- travelled", "recently-arrived","well-behaved". This link might help you:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/youmeus/learnit/learnitv224.shtml

Answer

Another example is 'well-spoken'.

A well-spoken person is someone who has good diction and an educated accent.

This is clearly not a passive construction.

Answer

a well-read woman is a woman who reads a lot, especially good books, notice habitual action
a drunken man is a man who drank a lot , notice that his drunken state is not necessarily habitual,
the drunken man staggered down the street, simple past action
but
an abused woman is a woman who someone abused
the insulted woman is a woman who someone insulted 
So there are different verbs as you say that are either reflexive or not

Answer

By the way, if I want to find some use examples of ' adverb + past participles' in COCA, what shoud I do?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!