50 Words, Idioms and Phrases to Describe People & Personalities Positively

adjectives and idioms to describe a person's  personality to describe how they think how they  

act how they show up or are in the world this  is going to be the best lesson on this topic and  

i'm going to categorize these adjectives in a way  that helps you to remember them we're also going  

to have a section of adjectives that i highly  suggest you use when you need to describe yourself  

in an interview or another opportunity in  your professional life now if you enjoy  

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this week's video we're going to focus on  positive attributes or positive descriptors  

in another lesson perhaps next week  we'll talk about negative adjectives and  

idioms but this week let's keep it positive  let's talk about how to describe people in  

a positive light in the next 10 minutes you will  improve your vocabulary including advanced words  

phrases and idioms to describe people you'll  improve your listening skills and your speaking  

skills if you practice repeating the words  along with me you'll improve your pronunciation  

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i suggest you try it out today we'll explore  adjectives in categories as opposed to  

a long list of random adjectives or an  alphabetically organized list the best way to  

actually memorize vocabulary in general and for  this topic describing personalities is to group  

the words by general meaning and in that way you  can associate them together you can think well i  

can use these words in similar situations when  i want to describe a certain kind of person and  

that's how our brain works is we want to associate  ideas or vocabulary words together now let's jump  

in the first descriptive word is one that is super  basic but we're going to explore more advanced  

vocabulary to describe a nice person probably  the most basic way to describe someone positively  

is they are nice a quite advanced word to me nice  is affable we don't use this in conversational  

english but it's more of an advanced word that  you might see in writing she's kind considerate  

thoughtful amicable means polite friendly  respectful warm-hearted kind generous instead of  

saying she's nice all the time try using some of  these other adjectives cheerful helpful selfless  

selfless means that this person is so helpful they  even help someone else before they help themselves  

courteous courteous is also like considerate  thoughtful respectful diplomatic a diplomatic  

person is able to deal with difficult people or  difficult situations someone who is tactful and  

someone who is nice could have a heart of gold  someone who's smart instead of saying smart we  

could say bright she's so bright she's witty or  quick witted she has a quick witted humor meaning  

that she is very funny but in a smart way clever  brilliant intelligent alert someone who's alert  

is smart but it could also mean a bit anxious  always watching for the next thing that could  

happen instead of smart we could describe someone  as a smart cookie she's a smart cookie why cookie  

i don't know but it's a great idiom to use or  wiz kid this is not just for children or kids  

he's a real whiz kid could describe someone  who is smart but keep in mind that whiz kid is  

casual so you might not describe your boss this  way but maybe a colleague or someone who's kind of  

on the same level as you like a friend or someone  who is in your class with personality we have this  

whole idea of type a or type b a type a person  is someone who's a bit high strung or uptight  

maybe they don't relax very easily they could  be a bit tense which is not really a positive  

attribute but type a can be positive someone  who's organized put together determined  

ambitious their eyes are on the prize they keep  their eyes on the prize or they are goal oriented  

they have it together they're usually meticulous  and detail-oriented they have eagle eyes meaning  

they see all the details a type a person is the  type of person you want to have as your lawyer  

or someone who's helping you with a detailed  contract for example a type b person on the  

other hand is more easy going laid back go with  the flow type b can be more spontaneous creative  

imaginative but perhaps on the negative side a bit  scatter brained or spacey but the good thing is  

they tend to be adaptable down to earth and in  general happy campers i would say i'm a little  

of type a and a little of type b it depends on the  day what about you are you more type a or type b  

introverted and extroverted a person who is  introverted tends to spend more time on their  

own someone who is funny has a good sense  of humor they might be a barrel of laughs a  

live wire someone who is quite energetic always  cracking jokes a live wire means energetic someone  

who is full of life full of energy exuberant  lively exuberant is such a great word it's fun  

to say exuberant someone who has a zest for  life or joie de vivre yes we use this phrase  

in english even though it is french personally i  love when i find phrases from other languages that  

we use in english can you think of any others now  this lesson wouldn't be complete without talking  

about how to describe yourself in a positive  light for an interview or professional situation  

and also how to describe other people who might  be strong leaders or someone you want to recommend  

she's open-minded no we don't say broad-minded i  think this is more british english someone who is  

open-minded is open to new ideas this is important  when you're a leader and when you want to  

learn new things in an industry and  you want to stay on the cutting edge  

if you are pioneering this means that you're an  early adopter you are staying on the cutting edge  

always learning about new technology and trying  it out being reliable trustworthy dependable or  

a solid person are all really important when you  have a leadership role can people count on you can  

they rely on you then you're dependable you show  up you do what you said you would do you are a man  

of his word or woman of her word it's important  to be decisive to be able to make decisions  

to be frank means to be honest straightforward you  don't beat around the bush to beat around the bush  

means to hem and ha to say ah well i don't  know i'm not sure to beat around the bush  

means you are not direct you are not honest or  straightforward you don't want to give someone  

bad news leaders are often sociable they might  be social butterflies maybe a bit extroverted  

at least for the purpose of networking it could  be described as a people person even gregarious  

gregarious is someone who talks a lot easily but  sometimes too much so this word could be negative  

but it basically means someone who's very outgoing  or extroverted you have the gift of gab gab means  

talking so the gift of gab means it's easy for you  to talk with other people on the other hand a good  

leader could also be introverted someone who's  more intuitive or who understands something with  

their gut feeling as opposed to needing a lot of  data modest means that you're not full of yourself  

you're not boastful you're not egotistical so  even though you have achieved a lot even though  

you're a good leader you're still modest you're  an action taker you're proactive a go-getter  

ambitious assertive you don't want to show up as  overly emotional you want to be even keeled calm  

rational and even have a poker face a poker face  means you don't show your feelings you don't show  

your hand now this could be slightly negative  depending on how you're describing a person in  

what situation however even though you don't  want to be overly emotional you do want to be  

passionate passionate about your work passionate  about your goals and achieving things persistent  

you are resilient if you fall down you get back  up if at first you don't succeed you try and try  

again you're persistent and resilient you're goal  oriented you're driven you're ambitious you're  

confident or self-confident salt of the earth  salt of the earth means someone who is honest  

straightforward and hard working optimistic  someone who thinks positively also you could  

be a realist someone who thinks positively but  within reality so not overly optimistic you're  

resourceful meaning you are creative in finding  resources you're versatile meaning you can do a  

lot of different things perhaps a jack of all  trades someone who can do a lot of different  

tasks successfully a linchpin meaning that you  are not replaceable you can do so many things  

that really only you can do the way that you  do them you are irreplaceable you're a linchpin  

a mover and a shaker so i would probably only  use this to describe someone else i think it  

would sound a little strange if i said yeah i'm  a real mover and a shaker it just means that  

you take action you're always trying new things  you're networking with people you get things done  

and you're out and about in the world people know  who you are and that you're interesting you're fun  

you're bubbly you you are never stagnant you don't  stay in one place or doing the same thing for too  

long and a couple other adjectives to close this  out that i would only use to describe other people  

would be top dog someone who is really at the top  one percent of their group a top dog or a major  

player someone who is influential in their space  their profession their field their company so tell  

me how would someone describe you how would your  colleagues describe you tell me in the comments  

and practice using some of these adjectives and  idioms to describe personality just a few things  

before we wrap up class we have new lessons  each week but you have to subscribe to know  

when they're posted because we post on different  days so if you subscribe you'll probably get a  

notification about when they go live so thanks so  much for watching i hope you enjoyed this lesson  

you're an amazing person you're gonna go far  with your english if you just keep going just  

don't quit don't give up thanks for watching  i'll talk to you again next week bye for now