Improve Your Vocabulary: 23 words for talking about feeling good or bad

Hi. I'm Gill from www.engvid.com,

and today, in this lesson we're going to be looking at some vocabulary

for moods, emotions, and feelings, which are all the same thing, really.

So, there you are, you've learnt three words that all mean the same thing;

"mood", "emotion", "feeling". They're all pretty much the same meaning.

Okay? And we're looking at positive

words for good... Good emotions, and some negative words for not so happy emotions.

Okay.

Right, so let's have a look. Most people are going to use "happy" and "sad", those are

probably the first words you learn when you want to describe emotions, but sometimes I

hear people talking and having a conversation, and they just keep using the same

"happy", "sad", and there's no variation. I mean, it's okay, but to have a broader vocabulary is

good, especially if you're going to be using it in the IELTS, for example, in the speaking

test, or in some essay writing, or any... Any exams you're doing, whether they're written

or spoken. It's good to have a wider range of vocabulary. So, I've got some for you, here.

So, look no further. Right.

So, "happy" and "glad". You may have heard "glad".

"Oh, I'm so glad."

If your friend tells you that they've just got a new job and they're really enjoying it, you can say:

"Oh, I'm so glad to hear that."

Or "pleased" is very similar. "I'm really pleased for you.",

"Very pleased", "Very glad". Okay? So those are all, "happy", "glad", "pleased", they're

all pretty much the same sort of meaning, sort of generally; positive and happy.

Then we come to some words that are a little bit more intense;

they're stronger. Stronger words. "Delighted". If your friend has this new job, and you say:

"Oh, I'm delighted."

That's three syllables for one thing, so that makes it "delighted", that makes it more stronger.

But also, it's a nice word to know. Also, if you get an invitation to a party, and you say:

"Oh, I'd be delighted to come. Thank you." Or an invitation anywhere. "Oh, delighted."

Unless, of course, you want to play it cool and not be too, you know.

Okay, so you can use "delighted" in writing and in speaking. Okay.

The same with this word: "thrilled". There's the word "thrill", which is the noun.

"What a thrill", and you can practice your: "th", "thra", "thra". It's difficult to say, because

it's not just the "th", which is hard for some people, but there's an "r" as well, so it's:

"thrilled", it's quite hard to say if you're not used to that kind of pronunciation.

"Thrill" and "thrilled". "I'd be thrilled"-okay?-"to go to the party".

And, here's another, this is a very sophisticated word: "elated". It's not the sort of word,

perhaps, that you would use in a sort of informal, casual conversation. "Elated" is quite a high,

high status kind of word, but it's a good one in certain contexts. Okay. And "elation",

the noun, "elation", but it's not used in sort of everyday life. Okay, "ecstatic" is

a little bit like "elated". You've probably heard of the noun "ecstasy", okay?

Which, unfortunately, is also now linked with a drug, which is probably unfortunate, but there we

are. But that's the drug "ecstasy" produces a result of feeling ecstasy. So, ecstatic,

but please don't try it; not a good idea. So, "ecstatic", it's a very extreme, extreme

kind of word again. Extreme.

Okay?

"Delirious" is another. Sometimes this is used in a medical sense by doctors. If someone

is delirious, they may have a high temperature. If the doctor takes their temperature and

it's way up, and maybe they've got a cold or a fever - delirious.

You can be deliriously happy. That doesn't mean you have a temperature and a cold;

it just means you're really, really, really happy.

But, you can also be delirious with a fever, so it's that sort of extreme

sense with that word. Okay?

"In a good mood" is: "Oh, we're back down to earth again. It was getting a little bit too exciting."

We're back down to earth. If you say you're in a good mood, that's sort

of normal. It's like saying: "happy", "glad", "pleased", "in a good mood". Ah, we can relax

a bit, okay. It's just a nice, happy mood; "in a good mood". Okay? But, oh we're going

up again now: "over the moon", that's right up into the... Leaving the planet. If you're

over the moon, you're really, really, really happy again-okay?-because you're going right

up into space. So, that's obviously what we call an idiom.

Idiom, because it's not literally true; you don't actually go up in a rocket and go over the moon,

but that's the sort of feeling of extreme. "Elation", okay?

"Over the moon".

And similarly, not quite as high, so we're coming back down to Earth a bit now:

"on cloud nine", if you think of the clouds in the sky, there's a cloud up there,

number nine for some reason, and you're on that cloud. So that's sort of up, feeling happy,

up in the sky. Okay? So, ah: "walking on the air", we're coming back down to earth a little bit now,

because if you're walking on air, it's like your feet are just a few inches above the

ground; you can't feel your feet touching the ground because you're happy about something.

So, that's "walking on air", another idiom.

And finally, in the positive section:

"a happy bunny". If you say: "Oh, I'm a happy bunny",

or "a very happy bunny" sometimes. "Bunny", I don't know if you know this word.

It's another word for "rabbit".

Okay? A rabbit, a little pet that people have, or there are wild rabbits

as well. Children call them "bunnies", "bunny rabbit". They often say both words,

"bunny rabbit". But "a happy bunny", I don't know where this came from. It's... I think it's

fairly recent, maybe in the past 10 years. But if you're a happy bunny, it's a sort of

a joke, jokey kind of thing to say, but that means you're happy, very happy. Okay? Right,

so I hope that's given you a good range of positive words, just normal ones, more extreme

ones, some idioms. Okay?

So, let's move on to the... We're going to get really depressed now. I hope not, but

anyway, here are all the negative ones. So, "sad" is probably the one you know best,

the first word you learn for negative feelings. "Sad", "unhappy". So, we've got "happy" and

the "un" is just a negative prefix, so "unhappy". Okay?

And now we're going a little bit extreme again with "miserable". The noun, "misery",

that's the noun, the condition of being miserable, "misery". Or you can even call somebody

"a misery": "Oh, that woman, she is a misery." You can say that, but "misery" as the noun

is the state of being miserable. So, "miserable", this is getting more extreme than just "sad".

And "melancholy" as well is often something... "Melancholy", maybe it lasts a long time,

people have a state of melancholy, and it could go on for days and weeks. It's not a

very pleasant condition. If you have melancholy, I think you need to go to the doctor or have

some counselling, or something, because it's not a good state to be in. Melancholy, depression

go together. So, okay, there's another one. If we say:

"depressed", that's the kind of word you would use if you go to the doctor and said:

"I feel really depressed." Okay?

A useful word, there.

Okay, and where we had: "in a good mood", we also have "in a bad mood". And that's not

so much to do with being sad. And if you're in a bad mood, you're a bit annoyed or angry

about something, really, a bit irritated. Okay, so, "good mood", "bad mood".

Here's another nice idiom: "down in the dumps".

Okay? So where we had up "over the moon" right

up there in the space, "down in the dumps". I don't know what the dumps are, but it's

a long way down, somewhere not very nice. It's probably dark and horrible,

so "down in the dumps". And because it has "d", "d", it's a bit poetic, it's a little bit like

poetry where you sometimes get the same letter-"d", "d"-repeated like a pattern.

So, "down in the dumps", it's a little... Slightly jokey kind of way:

"Oh, I'm really down in the dumps today. Oh."

And your friend might say: "Oh, never mind, you'll feel better tomorrow."

And it's sort of light, light-hearted. Okay, "down in the dumps".

Now, we had "on cloud nine" for the positive, and for the negative, we've got "under a cloud",

so it's like you have a cloud over your head, and it's probably a grey cloud or

a black cloud, and rain might be coming down from it. So, you're looking very under a cloud.

You can just imagine it up there over your head. Okay? And then the opposite of

"a happy bunny", you'll be surprised to hear is "not a happy bunny".

You won't be surprised to hear.

You can just say: "Oh, I'm not a happy bunny today."

Oh. And your friends will all be sympathetic, and say:

"Oh, never mind." So, there we are. So, again, different types

of words for negative feelings with different extremes.

So, I hope that's all been useful and helped you to increase your vocabulary,

and use words in different situations.

So, if you'd like to go to the website, www.engvid.com,

there's a quiz there to test you on these,

which I hope you'll go and do straight away.

And maybe subscribe to my YouTube channel,

and I hope to see you again soon. Okay?

Bye for now.