400 Glorious Adjectives to Describe a Person (2024)

Whether you realize it or not, you use adjectives all the time in speaking and writing. Anytime you pay a friend a compliment (you’re amazing!) or decide what size fries you want with your hamburger (large, please), you’re relying on adjectives to help you describe. Without adjectives, our sentences would feel flat, unclear, and dull. Adjectives make our sentences exciting, and sometimes we can’t get our point across without them. Having a broad, diverse, and unique arsenal of adjectives on hand will boost your creativity and help people feel engaged by everything you write.

We use adjectives in so many ways, but in this article, we’ll be focusing on how to use adjectives to describe a person. If you’re ready to flex your descriptive muscles, read on to find out:

What Is an Adjective?
How Do I Pick the Right Adjective?
How Do I Use an Adjective in a Sentence?
How Do I Use Adjectives to Describe a Person?
Adjective Examples: Positive Adjectives to Describe a Person
Adjective Examples: Negative Adjectives to Describe a Person
Adjective Examples: Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Actions
Adjective Examples: Uncommon Adjectives
How Can I Expand My Vocabulary?

400 Glorious Adjectives to Describe a Person — What Is an Adjective?

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. In plain speech, that means that adjectives are used to help us describe people, places, and things. Adjectives are helper words—they’re added on to make sentences more colorful, powerful, and precise, but that doesn’t mean they’re lesser words. Without adjectives, we wouldn’t be able to say the sky is blue, we wouldn’t be able to tell our neighbor we’re doing great, and we wouldn’t be able to ask a friend if they could turn up our favorite song.

400 Glorious Adjectives to Describe a Person — How Do I Pick the Right Adjective?

Choosing the right adjective is all about two key things: accuracy and tone. If you’re using adjectives to describe a woman with black hair, for example, you wouldn’t want to say her hair is pale or flaxen because those adjectives mean blonde. Some adjectives have the same root meaning but aren’t used in the same way. By definition alone, the words tough, forceful, muscular, tenacious, and iron-willed all have something to do with strength, but some of these words have to do with physical ability and some have to do with mental and emotional resolve.

Adjectives also come with different tones. After we get a haircut, for example, we might use adjectives like great or awful to let our stylist know what we think of our new do. But sometimes words with the same basic meaning also convey more subtle differences in tone. Think of the words mad, irked, irritated, irate, furious, outraged. They all mean angry, but each evokes a different level of feeling. In this case, choosing the correct adjectives to describe a person’s emotional state helps your reader understand exactly how angry they were.

To be strong writers, we need a broad range of adjectives to help convey exactly what we mean in exactly the right tone.

400 Glorious Adjectives to Describe a Person — How Do I Use an Adjective in a Sentence?

Let’s be real: grammar can be complicated. There are exceptions to every rule, but here are three tips to help you make sure you’re putting adjectives in the right place in 99% of uses.

1) If an adjective is modifying a noun, it goes before the noun.

Adjective Examples:

The sneaky fox stole the chicken.
She cast a hopeful glance in her crush’s direction.
It was an elegant party.

2) If an adjective is modifying a form of the verb “to be” in a sentence, the adjective goes after the verb.

Adjective Examples:

They are so clever.
The cake is enormous.
I am certain the movie starts at 8pm.

Because these adjectives (clever, enormous, certain) are being used to modify the verb “to be” (are, is, am), the adjective goes after the verb.

400 Glorious Adjectives to Describe a Person — How Do I Use Adjectives to Describe a Person?

When we use adjectives to describe a person, we’re usually trying to tell a story. Whether you’re sharing a funny memory about a friend or working on a biographical essay or some creative writing, adjectives can help make your writing more engrossing and vivid. As you write, ask yourself:

What adjectives can I use to describe a person’s appearance? Describing how a character looks helps your reader visualize them.

Which adjectives can I use to describe a person’s personality? Describing how a character feels helps your reader understand and relate to them.

What adjectives can I use to describe a person’s behavior? Describing how a character acts helps your reader engaged in the action.

Ready to build a vast and impressive adjective vocabulary? We’ve got 400 outstanding adjective examples for you below.

Adjective Examples: Positive Adjectives to Describe a Person

Accomplished
Adept
Affable
Amazing
Ambitious
Amiable
Articulate
Authentic
Brave
Bright
Calm
Charismatic
Cheerful
Compassionate
Competent
Considerate
Courageous
Creative
Cute
Dazzling
Dependable
Diligent
Dynamic
Divine
Easy-going
Efficient
Elegant
Enchanting
Energetic
Engaging
Enthusiastic
Even keeled
Exuberant
Faithful
Fearless
Flexible
Focused
Formidable
Friendly
Generous
Gentle
Giving
Glowing
Gorgeous
Gracious
Gregarious
Hard-working
Helpful
Hilarious
Hopeful
Humble
Imaginative
Impartial
Independent
Inquisitive
Insightful
Inspiring
Intellectual
Intuitive
Inventive
Joyful
Jubilant
Kind
Knowledgeable
Laid-back
Likable
Lovely
Loving
Loyal
Lucky
Neat
Observant
Open-minded
Optimistic
Organized
Passionate
Patient
Perfect
Persistent
Personable
Popular
Philosophical
Placid
Plucky
Polite
Powerful
Practical
Proactive
Productive
Proficient
Quick-witted
Quirky
Rational
Ravishing
Reliable
Remarkable
Resilient
Resourceful
Romantic
Sage
Self-confident
Sensitive
Sincere
Straightforward
Sympathetic
Thoughtful
Tough
Trustworthy
Unassuming
Understanding
Upbeat
Vivacious
Witty

Negative Adjectives to Describe a Person

Abrasive
Absentminded
Abusive
Abysmal
Acerbic
Adversarial
Aggravating
Aggressive
Aimless
Aloof
Annoying
Antagonistic
Arrogant
Awkward
Baffling
Barbaric
Basic
Batty
Belligerent
Bizarre
Bland
Boring
Brainless
Brash
Bungling
Callous
Careless
Challenging
Cheap
Childish
Clueless
co*cky
Coldhearted
Crabby
Crude
Cynical
Deceptive
Defensive
Defiant
Dense
Despicable
Disappointing
Disgruntled
Disobedient
Envious
Evil
Exacerbating
Fiendish
Flawed
Flaky
Forgetful
Frightening
Ghoulish
Gloomy
Grouchy
Haggard
Harebrained
Harsh
Hasty
Haughty
Heartless
Hideous
Icy
Immature
Immoral
Impetuous
Impolite
Imposing
Impossible
Impractical
Inarticulate
Inane
Incompetent
Inconsiderate
Inconsistent
Indifferent
Infantile
Infuriating
Inattentive
Insincere
Irrational
Jaded
Judgmental
Manipulative
Moody
Melodramatic
Messy
Nosy
Obstinate
Odd
Pessimistic
Petty
Prejudiced
Rude
Smug
Tacky
Tasteless
Thoughtless
Timid
Toxic
Tyrannical

Adjective Examples: Adjectives to Describe a Person’s Actions

Abnormal
Accidental
Absurd
Adventurous
Affectionate
Altruistic
Appalling
Aware
Blundering
Boorish
Bold
Brisk
Bungling
Careful
Cautious
Charming
Civil
Collaborative
Costly
Combative
Comical
Competitive
Compliant
Cowardly
Criminal
Critical
Cutting
Deafening
Deceptive
Deliberate
Diplomatic
Disastrous
Encouraging
Enthusiastic
Enterprising
Erratic
Evasive
Exploitative
Extravagant
Extroverted
Extreme
Facetious
Foolish
Frantic
Furtive
Girlish
Grating
Hapless
Hollow
Honorable
Horrific
Humble
Hushed
Incessant
Indecent
Inconsequential
Intolerant
Introverted
Jealous
Laughable
Macho
Manly
Manipulative
Mysterious
Muddled
Nervous
Neurotic
Obstinate
Opportunistic
Orderly
Organized
Patronizing
Petty
Pleasant
Possessive
Precise
Predictable
Redundant
Reprehensible
Reserved
Responsible
Reverent
Sarcastic
Scatterbrained
Selfish
Sensitive
Shrewd
Shy
Sickening
Sincere
Sober
Tactless
Talkative
Tenacious
Terrifying
Threatening
Wasteful
Upbeat
Uplifting
Upsetting
Vague
Volatile
Wary
Wild
Woeful
Zany
Zealous

Uncommon Adjectives

Aberrant
Abject
Adroit
Aloof
Baleful
Bellicose
Bilious
Boorish
Bubbly
Bullish
Caustic
Chiseled
Comely
Dapper
Debonair
Dogmatic
Dilatory
Disheveled
Eccentric
Ebullient
Erudite
Ethereal
Equanimous
Equine
Excitable
Fastidious
f*ckless
Finicky
Freewheeling
Funky
Genial
Giddy
Glib
Grimy
Guileless
Hubristic
Insidious
Insolent
Jejune
Jittery
Lackadaisical
Laconic
Loquacious
Lugubrious
Obtuse
Pernicious
Perspicacious
Petulant
Pigheaded
Pitiable
Pompous
Prudent
Puckish
Mannered
Manic
Mendacious
Mercurial
Meretricious
Miserly
Radiant
Reclusive
Reticent
Righteous
Risible
Sage
Savvy
Salubrious
Self-righteous
Scrawny
Slovenly
Spiffy
Strident
Timorous
Touchy
Uxorious
Visionary
Voluble
Voracious
Zesty

How Can I Expand My Vocabulary?

We know, we know—that’s a big list of words above. But don’t be intimidated. Even if you’re not familiar with every word yet, with a little effort, you can quickly expand your vocabulary to include the words on our list. Since adjectives pack a lot of punch, building your adjective vocabulary is one of the best ways to make your writing more detailed, creative, and nuanced. To incorporate the words above into your writing, we recommend a two-step approach that focuses on both memorization and practice.

Memorization: As a first step, pick 10-15 words in the list above that you’re unfamiliar with or that you don’t usually use in your writing. Look up their definitions and put the word, dictionary definition, a personal definition in your own words, and an example sentence on a flashcard. You can use paper flashcards or an app on your phone. Keep your flashcards handy and test yourself whenever you have a free moment.

Practice: Memorization is important, but words won’t stick unless you put them into practice. Once you’ve memorized a set of words, challenge yourself to see where you can use them in your writing. Look for opportunities to work them into school assignments, incorporate them into text messages or notes to friends, or write a short story where you challenge yourself to describe your characters using as many new adjectives as you can.

Additional Resources

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