![Adjectives cover](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/0d3b7ccf5e/blog-title-adjectives-cover.png/m/)
Table of Contents
- Why Are Descriptive Adjectives Important?
- What Are the Best Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Appearance and Style?
- What Are the Best Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Stature and Physique?
- What Are the Best Negative, Neutral, and Positive Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Personality?
- How Should You Use Adjectives in Your Writing?
The right adjective can change the way your reader views you (or the person you're writing about) completely. If you're describing your own traits in a cover or admissions letter, it's easy to fall into the trap for using the same words on repeat (you can only be so proactive and hard-working, after all).
If you're a fiction writer, you might want to use adjectives to bring your characters to life. Whether your character is cynical and curmudgeonly or bubbly and sweet, you need to find the right words to show your readers who they are.
If you’re looking for those perfect words, you’ve come to the right place. This article will give you a list of useful adjectives for describing people—including yourself—in your writing.
Why Are Descriptive Adjectives Important?
Adjectives are called "describing words" for a reason. They bring your descriptions to life by adding details and specificity to your writing.
If you want to improve your adjectives, ProWritingAid’s Thesaurus Report highlights the adjectives in your text so you can check them at a glance. Each highlight offers suggestions for alternatives, so you can avoid overusing the same words.
What Are the Best Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Appearance and Style?
![Adjectives used to describe style and appearance](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/17bdfbe1d9/blog-content-adjectives-for-style-and-appearance.png/m/)
Chic: fashionable and elegant
Classy: sophisticated and expensive
Cute: attractive in an endearing way
Disheveled: untidy and disordered
Dowdy: unfashionable and without style
Drab: dull and lacking brightness
Eclectic: inspired by a diverse range of ideas
Edgy: experimental or avant-garde
Effete: over refined and intellectual
Elegant: pleasingly graceful
Ethereal: delicate and light
Flamboyant: excessive, larger than life
Gauche: gaudy, lacking grace
Glamorous: dazzling and alluring
Homely: unattractive in appearance
Minimalistic: stark, stripped down to the basics
Modest: simple and conventional
Polished: refined and cultivated
Romantic: soft and feminine, vintage-inspired
Rumpled: disheveled or creased
Scruffy: shabby and untidy
Sensible: practical and functional rather than decorative
Sexy: seductive and alluring
Spartan: showing indifference to comfort or luxury
Swanky: stylishly luxurious and expensive
Trendy: very fashionable and up to date
Vibrant: full of energy and color
What Are the Best Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Stature and Physique?
![Adjectives to describe stature and physique](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/2676ca0c10/blog-content-adjectives-for-stature-and-physique.png/m/)
Bony: so thin that the bones are prominent
Buff: in great physical shape
Buxom: plump, heavy-breasted
Chiseled: strong and clearly defined
Curvaceous: having an attractively curved shape
Dwarfish: small in stature
Gaunt: lean and haggard
Lithe: thin, supple, and graceful
Heavyset: stocky and stout
Lanky: tall and slim in an ungraceful or clumsy way
Lean: slim and thin
Paunchy: having a large or protruding belly
Petite: attractively small and dainty
Plump: full and rounded
Rotund: stout or round
Statuesque: attractively tall and dignified
Stocky: broad and sturdily built
Stout: strong and thick
Svelte: slender and elegant
Sylphlike: slender and graceful
Squat: short and thickset
Towering: much taller than the norm
Voluptuous: curvaceous and sexually attractive
Willowy: gracefully thin
Wiry: lean, tough, and sinewy
Zaftig: having a full, rounded figure
What Are the Best Negative, Neutral, and Positive Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Personality?
![Adjectives to describe a friendly person](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/5a6d2dcffe/blog-content-adjectives-for-a-friendly-person.png/m/)
Affable: easy to talk to
Aloof: cool and distant
Ambitious: determined to succeed
Amiable: friendly and pleasant
Arrogant: haughty and self-important
Audacious: willing to take bold risks
Bashful: reluctant to draw attention to oneself
Bellicose: aggressive and willing to fight
Belligerent: hostile and antagonistic
Bighearted: kind and generous
Blithe: casual and cheerful
Boastful: proud and bragging
Boisterous: energetic and noisy
Boorish: rough and bad-mannered
Bossy: domineering and overbearing
Calculating: scheming and shrewd
Callous: insensitive and cruel
Carefree: unworried and untroubled
Charming: pleasant and likable
Chatty: fond of talking
Cheerful: happy and optimistic
Childlike: having good qualities associated with youth
Chirpy: cheerful and lively
Churlish: rude and surly
Clumsy: awkward in movement or handling things
Conceited: excessively vain
![Adjectives for a bad tempered person](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/7205edfaaa/blog-content-adjectives-for-bad-tempered-person.png/m/)
Condescending: patronizing and snobbish
Confident: self-assured
Convivial: cheerful and friendly
Coquettish: flirtatious and playful
Cowardly: lacking courage
Coy: making a pretense of shyness to be alluring
Crass: lacking sensitivity or refinement
Creepy: causing an unpleasant feeling of unease
Cruel: willfully causing pain to others
Cunning: crafty and wily
Deceitful: dishonest and insincere
Deferential: respectful and humble
Devoted: loyal and loving
Devout: pious and religious
Diplomatic: talented at dealing with people politely
Disagreeable: unpleasant and bad-tempered
Disdainful: contemptuous and scornful
Domineering: asserting one’s will over others
Dull: boring and uninteresting
Earnest: serious and sincere
Easygoing: relaxed and even-tempered
Ebullient: cheerful and full of energy
Egotistical: excessively conceited or self-absorbed
Enchanting: delightful and charming
Energetic: lively and high-spirited
Evasive: dodgy and unresponsive
Excitable: too easily excited
Exuberant: filled with energy and excitement
Faithful: loyal and steadfast
Fervid: enthusiastic and passionate
![Adjectives for an aggressive person](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/f7ab89e355/blog-content-adjectives-for-aggressive-person.png/m/)
Fierce: forceful and aggressive
Formidable: inspiring fear or respect
Freewheeling: disregarding of rules or conventions
Gallant: brave and heroic
Garrulous: talkative and wordy
Generous: kind and giving
Genial: friendly and cheerful
Gentle: mild and kind
Gluttonous: greedy and insatiable
Graceful: stylish and elegant
Gregarious: sociable and outgoing
Grouchy: irritable and bad-tempered
Guarded: cautious and reserved
Gullible: easily persuaded to believe something
Heroic: brave and noble
Honorable: moral and principled
Hotheaded: impetuous and quick to anger
Hypercritical: excessively critical
Imaginative: showing creativity or inventiveness
Immature: childish and juvenile
Impertinent: rude, not showing proper respect
Imperturbable: calm and unflappable
Indolent: idle and lazy
Industrious: diligent and hard-working
Innocent: young and pure
Intrepid: fearless and adventurous
Irascible: easily angered
Irresponsible: careless and reckless
Jealous: defensive and protective
Jittery: nervous and unable to relax
Jocular: humorous and playful
Jolly: happy and cheerful
Jovial: cheerful and friendly
Kooky: strange and eccentric
Lazy: unwilling to work
Lethargic: sluggish and slow
Levelheaded: calm and sensible
Loathsome: repulsive and disgusting
Loutish: uncouth and aggressive
Lovable: inspiring love or affection
Magnanimous: generous or forgiving
Manipulative: scheming and calculating
Mature: responsible and levelheaded
Meddlesome: fond of interfering
Mellow: imperturbable and even-tempered
Mendacious: lying and dishonest
Mercurial: volatile and capricious
Misanthropic: antisocial and reclusive
Mischievous: naughty and misbehaving
Miserly: reluctant to spend money
Modest: humble and self-deprecating
Moody: temperamental and emotional
Morose: sullen and ill-tempered
Naïve: inexperienced and innocent
Narcissistic: vain and self-loving
Nosy: prying and inquisitive
Oafish: stupid and uncultured
Obedient: compliant and acquiescent
Obnoxious: unpleasant and irritating
Obsequious: obedient and attentive
Obstinate: stubborn and headstrong
Odious: revolting and repugnant
Opinionated: having strong opinions
Optimistic: hopeful and confident about the future
Outgoing: friendly and social
Outspoken: frank in stating one’s opinions
Passionate: showing strong feelings
Passive: submissive and unresisting
Patient: tolerant and long-suffering
Patronizing: helpful in a superior or condescending way
Peculiar: strange or odd
Pensive: thoughtful and contemplative
Petulant: childishly sulky or bad-tempered
Placid: not easily upset or excited
Playful: lighthearted and fond of games
Pugnacious: quick to argue
Pusillanimous: timid and cowardly
Quarrelsome: argumentative
Querulous: whining and petulant
Quixotic: impractically idealistic
Ravishing: gorgeous and entrancing
Rebellious: showing a desire to resist authority
Reckless: careless and thoughtless
![blog content adjectives for a happy person](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/640x427/a9ebd08a6a/blog-content-adjectives-for-a-happy-person.png/m/)
Reclusive: avoiding the company of other people
Respectable: regarded by society to be good and proper
Reticent: reluctant to reveal one’s thoughts or feelings
Sadistic: deriving pleasure from inflicting suffering
Sanguine: optimistic and cheerful
Sardonic: grimly mocking or cynical
Sassy: lively and cheeky
Saturnine: slow and gloomy
Shrewd: sharp-witted and astute
Sickly: often ill
Sincere: wholehearted and genuine
Sociable: friendly and affable
Spunky: courageous and determined
Stingy: unwilling to give or spend
Studious: spending a lot of time studying or reading
Surly: bad-tempered and unfriendly
Tactless: insensitive and inconsiderate
Tetchy: bad-tempered and irritable
Timid: easily frightened
Truculent: aggressively defiant
Trusting: unsuspicious, gullible
Unctuous: excessively flattering and fawning
Unreliable: irresponsible and undependable
Vain: conceited and self-loving
Verbose: fond of using a lot of words
Vicious: deliberately cruel or violent
Vivacious: attractively lively and animated
Voracious: eager and insatiable
Vulnerable: susceptible to physical or emotional harm
Wicked: evil or morally wrong
Wily: shrewd and clever
Witty: humorous and quick
Winsome: attractive or appealing
Youthful: young or seeming young
Zany: unconventional and idiosyncratic
Zealous: fervent and passionate
How Should You Use Adjectives in Your Writing?
Now you have a list of adjectives you can refer to when you’re describing people in your stories and essays. Using different adjectives will make your characters jump off the page as they come to life in your reader’s mind.
Once you’re done with your story, run it through ProWritingAid’s Echo and Repeats Checker to see if you’re using any adjectives too often.
![Screenshot of ProWritingAid repeat checker](https://assets.prowritingaid.com/f/145420/902x530/08aa0d4870/blog-content-repeated-word-suggestion.png/m/)
Do you have any favorite adjectives? Let us know in the comments.