SPEAK English LIKE A NATIVE with These C1 Advanced Adjectives | Vocabulary Lesson

Hi there. This is Harry, and welcome back  to advanced English lessons with Harry,  

where I try to help you to get a better  understanding of the English language. If  

you're trying to prepare for those proficiency  exams or indeed, if you're trying to get ready  

for a job interview and you need to speak better  English, well, you've found the right place.

We're here to help you.

Okay. So as I said, this is an advanced  English lesson. And in this particular lesson,  

we're looking at adjectives and we're looking at  20, 20 adjectives to describe physical appearance.

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Now, when we're describing  people's physical appearance,  

we usually in general terms use words like short,

tall, of average height, fat, skinny.  There's a sort of general words we use,  

and that's fine for that particular  purpose. But if you want, something a  

little bit more adventurous or if you want to  describe people you know, or people you see,  

then you might want to have a look  at these more advanced adjectives.

So when we want to be a little bit more particular  

in our description and you'll  find these sort of words very,  

very often in the written format so you can use  them quite easily in your conversational English.

Now, as I go through the list  of these particular adjectives,  

I'll let you know if one or two  of them you have to be careful

Who you use them with because some people  could take offence with some of the words.  

And then the modern world of being PC or non-PC  PC. That means to be politically correct or

non politically correct where people might be  offended or take offence at some of the words.  

You just have to be a little bit more careful.  So I'll give you a warning in relation to them.

Yes, you still have to know these words because  they are used quite freely and quite openly.

Okay, So let's start with people  who are lighter in size. And again,  

just be careful here, because what  we're talking about in relation to  

people's size or that what we call the  frame, the actual body of the person.

So when we talk about people who are lighter,  

we can talk about lanky. Lanky, you  know, a lanky person is somebody  

who's very tall but very skinny. And it  usually describes somebody who perhaps

shot up in there when they were 14, 15  or 16 in their mid or early teens. And,  

you know, they didn't put on a lot of weight.

And we all know somebody we went to school with  who we could describe as lanky. In fact, we used  

to call them a beanpole. Well, yeah, somebody  tall and skinny like a beanpole, all lanky.

Another word for skinny is spindly  and spindly. You'll see the

written format of this on the screen. So  the pronunciation spindly and often we use  

it in relation to somebodies  legs. They had spindly legs,  

a bit like a spider, long and skinny  and all over the place. Spindly legs.

Feeble, feeble is a word we use to  describe somebody who's quite weak. Yeah,  

a feeble body or a feeble mind  sometimes are described as.

But if we're talking about specifically  somebody's body, feeble as somebody who's

undernourished

or old with not many muscles, so they haven't  kept themselves fit. So as they have got older,  

their body has deteriorated.  And they are not so strong. And  

we might say the good wind would blow  them away. Yes. So somebody's feeble.

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Delicate is a little bit different because  delicate doesn't really have anything to  

do with age. It has everything to do with the  shape and the frame and the body mass that you  

have. So some of these delicate, it just means  they're not very strong. Okay. Now, it can be  

permanent in the sense that somebody just didn't  develop or they didn't take care of themselves.

And they have a delicate body and they're  always sick or they're always breaking  

something. So they're quite delicate.  But you could always have a temporary  

when somebody wakes up when they've been  enjoying the Christmas party, for example,  

the night before. When they wake up the next  morning, they might describe themselves as,  

I'm a little bit delicate today, so it  won't last more than a few hours or a day.  

But delicate and a permanent situation  means that the body isn't so strong.

Frail, now frail is very definitely has to do  with age. And generally as people get older,  

their body becomes more and more  frail. They lose body mass. They  

lose muscle definition. Their bones  may appear to be sticking out. They may

have a calcium deficiency or something like that.  And yet they are frail. And if they fall over,  

particularly women of a certain age  and they're likely to break a hip or  

break a leg or an arm or some particular  bone so they can be described as frail,  

the frail old lady or my granny  is very frail these days.

You have to be very careful when  you help her up that you don't  

actually bruise her arm because she's quite frail.

Okay. So if I could just say to you, if you do  like this particular lesson and please like the  

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Slights is again a word referring to  a light framed person. Very slight  

means skinny or underweight and somebody  who's not necessarily based on their age,  

but they've got a slight frame or a  slight build. So there's not a lot of  

muscle definition. They could obviously be  healthy, but just they don't eat a lot or  

they're one of those people who they even if  they do eat a lot, they don't put on weight.

So that frame or that body is slight.

Gaunt to the next word and gaunt relates to  physical appearance, particularly around the  

face. So if somebody has been sick for a  period of time and spent time in hospital,  

perhaps they haven't eaten because they've  had a really bad illness when they come out  

of hospital. Somebody might look at  them and say, Wow, he's really gaunt.

So his cheeks are sunken and his skin is white  or yellowy, so he's rather gaunt and he needs  

a really good rehabilitation, lots of good food  and perhaps some nice fresh sea air. So gaunt.

Bony generally describes somebody who  just typically is bony. They don't have  

a lot of muscle on the body. Yeah. Know,  they look like a bit like a skeleton.

And they got you can see the bone sticking out  in there particularly in that prominent bones,  

like on the shoulder or on their  elbows or even on the legs and say,  

he's really bony. He's not very strong  or there's not much muscle on him.

Bony.

And skinny. Skinny just means somebody  who hasn't put on weight or doesn't put  

on weight. And they you know, they they  can wear these really skinny jeans and

slim fitting shirts. I really hate  those people. And they they they have no

tummy. They they've no love  handles. So they are just skinny.

And then we have decrepit. Yeah,  decrepit. And I'd be careful with  

the pronunciation. And the spelling of  this. Decrepit refers to old people,  

particularly things that have got  old over a period of time and have

depreciated or have gone down here. So the  decrepit old man shuffling along the street  

with a big heavy coach is his walk was slow and  ponderous and he shuffled along the street so  

we can refer to him as decrepit. Buildings can  also be described as decrepit, a row of decrepit  

houses that are falling down. So people who are  decrepit are a little bit like that as well.

Okay. So those are the words describing people  who are a little bit lighter than average,  

a little bit lighter than normal. So let's  

switch to the other side and look at people who  are a little bit heavier now. This is certainly  

where you have to be careful. People don't  mind being called skinny or frail or delicate.  

But if you're referring to them being a bit  heavier than normal or heavier than usual,  

then you really do have to be careful and make  sure these are friends that you're talking about.

So we can be plump. Plump can often describe  young children that haven't developed.

Yet. Okay. So they they are plump for a  few years because they they've just fed a  

lot. They haven't had a lot of exercise.  Maybe they were sick as a child and they  

put on a little bit of weight. So as soon as  they get to school and start running around  

and cycling around, they lose that baby  fat and they the plumpness disappears.

So plump is an overweight child

Corpulent. So this is quite a form of the word  corpulent. Corpulent usually describes the heavy  

businessman who's had one too many  corporate lunches and has enjoyed  

lots of rich food and wine to go  with it. And their rolls of fat  

are underneath the collar of his shirt,  and he's got a a large double chin and

Fat around every part of his body. That would  certainly be somebody described as corpulent,  

big and fat, like the old religious  paintings from the Bible that you would  

see in museums where the men and women  were painted and depicted as very heavy,  

not skinny at all. So those bodies  would be described as corpulent.

Stout. Stout usually refers to a man, but  not always, but usually to a man. Stout means  

heavy fat. Okay. Perhaps somebody who's been  drinking more beer than they should. And they  

get a rounded or what we call a beer belly. And  that can be described as stout, the stout man. So  

you'd know and describe him quite well. He's not  skinny, he's not lean, he's not fit, he's stout.

He's got a beer belly and looks a  little bit too fat or overweight.

Hefty. Hefty is a little bit more informal  than stout and corpulent and hefty can relate  

to any person. Yeah, so but it does mean  that the person has got a lot of excess  

weight. They're carrying a lot of excess  weight. And that I usually get a little  

bit hefty during the winter. I put on my winter  coat means I eat a little bit more than I should.

I maybe have one

glass of wine more than I should. And I  don't have so much exercise because it's  

cold or just don't like going out in the cold  weather. So it could be a little bit hefty  

over the winter months and you try to shed  those extra kilos. Spring and summer. Hefty.

Husky. Now, husky, I have to confess  here that I don't use Husky to describe  

the shape or the form or the frame of  a person's body. You can use it. I'll  

explain it now. But Husky often has to do  with somebody's voice. When somebody has a  

husky voice, it's deep. I can often  be described as sexy and masculine.

Yeah, a husky voice. But when we describe  somebody as having a husky frame,  

it's usually very well-built, very athletic. Yes,  

women in particular would like to  look at somebody with a husky frame.

Burly. Well, burly it's not  fat and it's not corpulent,  

but it is bigger than you should normally  be. So, you know, if you're looking at the

Front row or the what they call the the pack  of our rugby 15. So if you don't know rugby.

Well, look at the French or the British  teams. Or Scotland, England, Ireland,  

Wales, whoever it happens to be. And you look at  the guys with the numbers on the back one, two,  

three. Those guys you would be burly. Yeah. So  very round, quite heavy now they're very fit but  

wow, you wouldn't want to be hit by those guys.  So they're burly, big, strong, heavy set people.

Sturdy, Sturdy has a lot to do with strength.  When somebody is sturdy, they're strong,  

they're not easily knocked over. Yeah, so  he's a sturdy young man. Okay? So he's he's  

very solid. He might be getting a little  bit heavy, but he's not fat and he's not

he's not stout. But he is certainly sturdy. He's  got strong, thick legs and arms and shoulders,  

so very strong. And, you know,  it could describe somebody who 

perhaps hasn't

grown very tall, but instead of growning tall,  

he's grown out a bit. So he's got a bit of width  to him. There could be described as sturdy.

Robust. Well, a person who is robust  can stand up to certain knocks. So,  

again, a bit like sturdy, robust can be used to  describe somebody with a bit of meat on them.

You wouldn't like to bounce off them because  they it could be quite painful. So they they  

are robust, strong, tough, and again,  not overweight, but very, very heavy.

Next word is voluptuous. Now, here we have  to be really careful because this is a word  

that some people might see as offensive.  So we have to be careful who we described.

But if you've been watching movies and  if you've watched if you're my age,  

you'll know the actress. But if you're younger  than me, then you might have seen the movie  

recently about Marilyn Monroe. She is what I would  describe as a voluptuous woman. And it's all to  

do with that body shape. Women of a set with a  certain shaped body look like Marilyn Monroe.

You could describe that as a voluptuous body.  Okay. So I don't have to say anything else,  

but be very careful because some people could  take offence and feel that you're being more than

caustic or that you're passing remarks  that you shouldn't or you're getting  

a little bit too personal. So you  have to be really, really careful.

And then finally, the word chubby

The chubby girl.

Again, people can be a little bit insulted if you  call them chubby. Usually the word chubby has to  

do with children, a chubby baby. So babies who  have a lot of milk or feed a lot or cry a lot,  

so the mother feeds them to keep them  quiet. They end up getting lots of.

Facts around the wrists and the legs and the  thighs and particularly the cheeks of the face  

so we can say, chubby cheeks, so a little bit  of fat and of course they grow out of that.  

They stretch and everything will be okay  later on. But when they're young babies,  

he was a chubby baby or she was a chubby baby.

So describing that type of baby  fat that the babies generally have.

Okay, So there we have 20 particular adjectives  to do with body shape. Okay. Now, as I said,  

they're all to do with the shape and the  frame. And you can use these. You'll see  

them written down. You see them in books.  You can use them to describe people  

that you see. But you have to be really  careful that you don't do it in any way

that's insulting. But you certainly get the  idea from the words I've given you and the  

pictures that I've shown you to give you the  general description of each of those words.

If you need to contact me if you need some  additional help with the words or explanation,  

then get in touch with me. And  I certainly try to help you out.

So you need to practice those particular  words, pick out a few of them in relation to  

the ones describing somebody who's lighter or ones  describing somebody who's heavier and just c have  

a look through the Internet pictures that you can  use to describe those type of people. Okay. Well,  

this is Harry thanking you for watching this  particular video and join me for the next lesson.