Positive English Adjectives to Describe People | Advanced Vocabulary

Have you ever been to a networking event where someone asks you to describe a

colleague or perhaps you were in a job interview and asked to describe your boss

or a team member?

Describing others with precise language in English isn't always easy,

and today we're going to tackle that challenge of how to describe others in

English, particularly with positive adjectives.

Whether you're explaining why a friend is a fantastic artist,

describing how a coworker is a brilliant problem solver,

or sharing why your mentor is so inspiring.

The words you choose are powerful.

The problem is if you've ever felt stuck or unsure of what to say,

the tendency is to fall back on words like smart or nice.

But you and I both know these words don't fully capture someone's unique

qualities or characteristics, and that's why in this lesson today,

we're going to explore a range of positive,

focused adjectives that highlight someone's intellectual, emotional,

interpersonal, and creative traits.

With each new adjective that I share with you,

I'll also provide a definition and an example sentence so you know exactly

how to use it. By the end,

not only will you have a fantastic list of powerful positive

adjectives to use when describing someone in English,

but you'll also have an increased level of confidence knowing that you're using

precise language to say exactly what you want to say.

Now, before we dive in, if this is your first time here, welcome. I'm Annemarie,

an English confidence and fluency coach.

Everything I do here is designed to help you get the confidence you want for

your life and work in English.

If you'd love to get years of my Confident English lessons and free resources

for me,

including my in-depth fluency training called How to Get the Confidence to

Say What You Want in English,

you can find all of that and more at my Speak Confident English website.

As I'm sure you know from the title of this lesson today,

I've got quite a list of vocabulary for you, so I have three recommendations.

Number one,

get your favorite vocabulary notebook out and a pencil so you can keep track of

the words that are new to you that you want to incorporate into your vocabulary.

Number two, do not try to learn or memorize all of these words today.

It's not an effective way to learn and remember vocabulary. Instead,

here's a better approach. After you've got your list of new words,

go back and review it and then circle or highlight three or four words

that you want to focus on right now.

Spend time over the next week or two repeating those words,

getting opportunities to use them in English conversations.

As members in My Confident Women English Learning community know this is

the key to learning and remembering vocabulary,

being introduced to the new vocabulary,

seeing or hearing how to use it like in the examples I'll share with you today,

and then giving yourself the opportunity to repeat and repeat and repeat

over a period of time.

Once you've started to use those first three or four words consistently,

you can move on to the next three or four on your list.

A step-by-step approach will be more effective and your progress will be

longer lasting if you follow that method.

The last thing I want to share with you here is if you want some bonus practice,

I do have an opportunity for you that I'll share with you at the end today.

And with that,

let's go ahead and dive in to these 32 positive adjectives to describe people

in English. To make this lesson a little bit easier to navigate,

I have divided these adjectives up into five distinct categories. First,

intellectual personality traits, second emotional personality traits,

third, interpersonal, fourth, powerful, and lastly, creative.

So category number one, intellectual personality traits.

First on our list is adaptable.

This adjective describes someone who is able and willing to change in order to

suit different circumstances or people. For example,

Miriam is easygoing and adaptable. You'll love working with her.

Next, a type A personality.

This simple expression is very complex in its meaning.

It describes someone who is ambitious, goal-oriented,

focused on achievement, possibly competitive, organized,

proactive, and in control.

And if I were to use this in an example sentence,

I might say I've got a bit of a type A personality,

so I enjoy managing multiple projects.

In addition to a type A personality, we also have a type B personality.

This describes someone who's laid back, patient, easygoing,

even tempered and creative. For example,

my boss is super relaxed and easy to work with.

I'm pretty sure he's a type B personality.

Number four in this category is industrious.

This is used to describe someone who's a hard worker,

someone who is skilled and diligent at work. For example,

Yuma is extremely competent and industrious.

She's definitely your go-to person if you have any questions. Number five,

open-minded.

This is someone who is willing to accept and consider other points of view

without any judgment.

And I could say as I connect with more women from around the world inside my

confident Women English learning community,

I'm definitely becoming more and more open-minded.

Next on the list is perceptive.

Someone who is perceptive notices things that others

might not pay attention to. For example,

I might say I definitely recommend reading this book.

The Author is Perceptive and intriguing.

Number seven is resourceful.

This is used to describe someone who's great at problem solving or figuring

out a way to solve a particular issue. If there's a problem at work,

you might say, I think we should talk to Vicki about this.

She's particularly resourceful and great with customer service.

And the last word for this category is self-aware.

Someone who is self-aware,

knows and understands their own personality very well,

and they're able to control their inner world. For example,

I might say Millie is self-aware enough to know when she's being too dominant

in a discussion.

And now let's move on to category number two with adjectives describing

emotional personality traits.

The first on this list is a bubbly personality.

This describes someone who's full of energy and typically seems very happy,

perky and optimistic. For example,

my eldest daughter has a bubbly personality and is rather social.

Next in this category is to be an old soul.

This describes someone who is considered to be wise and thoughtful,

particularly for their age. In fact,

they often seem much older than they really are. For example,

since childhood, I've been told that I'm an old soul. In fact,

quite often my closest friends are much older than I am.

Number three in this category is to be a ray of sunshine.

This describes someone who not only appears to feel happy,

but someone who makes others around them feel happy as well. For example,

Maxine is a delight to be around. She's such a ray of sunshine.

Number four is optimistic.

This describes someone who tends to have a positive outlook and believes that

good things will happen. For example,

I appreciate Wilma's ability to be optimistic even when the team is feeling

down. Next in this category is sincere.

This describes someone who says what they feel or believe without any

deception. For example,

Carol is so sincere and she genuinely cares about helping clients achieve their

goals. And last for this category is sympathetic.

This describes someone who typically is a great listener,

someone who listens to others as they explain problems or share difficulties.

For example,

if you've just moved to a new country and you're struggling with the process,

someone might say, Gemma would be a great person to talk to.

She's sympathetic since she has also experienced living in another country.

Alright, how are you doing so far?

Do you have any new words that are a particular favorite?

If you do share a quick note down below,

I'd love to know what positive adjective is,

your new favorite vocabulary word, and now category number three.

Here we're going to focus on words that describe interpersonal personality

traits. And number one on the list is affectionate.

This describes someone who is loving and warm. Not only that,

but they also demonstrate that warmth to others. For example,

my sisters are quite affectionate and they never hesitate showing how much they

value their loved ones. Next on the list is to be down to earth.

This describes someone who is practical, realistic, and sensible.

For example, Theresa is so down to earth,

we should collaborate with her on projects more often.

Collaborating with someone who is down to earth can be particularly helpful if

you are someone who tends to have a vision for the bigger picture,

but struggles with the overall details or execution.

Number three in this category is easygoing,

which describes someone who most of the time is very relaxed and

calm, easy to be around. For example,

Pam is an easygoing landlord. If you have any issues at all,

you can comfortably talk about them with her. Number four, here is empathetic.

This describes someone who tends to feel what others are feeling.

They really understand where someone else is coming from.

For example,

Felicia is compassionate and empathetic toward new interns in the company.

Number five in this category is gregarious.

This is used to describe someone who is full of life,

someone who is particularly energetic and very friendly.

For example, Emma's a gregarious, outgoing person.

Similar to being gregarious is to be a social butterfly.

This is often used to describe someone who's particularly dynamic and loves to

engage with others. If for example, you're at a party,

this would be the individual who spends time talking with everyone.

For example,

I'm a bit more of a social butterfly when I'm around people that I've known

for a while. Next is thick skinned.

If you're thick skinned,

you're not easily upset by criticism or insults.

You don't take those things personally. For example,

you have to be rather thick skinned and adaptable to work in stem.

And the last in this category is witty.

This perfectly describes someone who can express their thoughts in an

amusing or humorous way and do so very quickly.

For example,

I enjoy books by authors who have a witty sense of humor and are great at

storytelling. Okay,

it's time for category number four where we have five vocabulary words that

describe particularly powerful personality traits.

The first on our list here is charismatic.

Someone who is charismatic would also be described as charming, inspiring,

or even compelling. For example, as a leader,

Liza is commanding and charismatic.

She knows exactly how to motivate her team. Next is classy.

This describes someone who might be elegant, stylish, and skillful.

It also describes someone with high standards for behavior and

looks. For example,

my mother was a classy woman with a kind personality and good taste for

modern art. Number three in this category is larger than life.

Describing someone as being larger than life can often be used as a

synonym for gregarious. Beyond that,

it can also be used to describe someone who has a very strong,

very big personality. For example,

let's say you meet someone who initially seems a bit shy or reserved,

and then after a short time around them,

you realize that they have a larger than life personality. In that instance,

you might say,

I didn't expect Tina to have a larger than life personality.

Number four is unassuming.

This describes someone who is not at all arrogant in their abilities.

Instead, they're rather humble.

They don't look for praise and they don't like to get noticed. For example,

the older man who lived next door was an unassuming and kind veteran.

And our last word for category number four is virtuous.

This describes someone with high moral standards.

For example, Beatrice is a virtuous woman who never demeans others.

And finally, category number five,

words that describe more creative personality traits.

Number one here is artistic.

This can be used to describe anyone who is particularly creative or has what

seems to be a natural ability in art, for example,

Kira's sculptures are gorgeous. She's so artistic. Next,

bold.

This describes someone who's willing to take risks or try new things,

whether they succeed or fail. For example,

Jackie was a bold, honest woman.

She was never afraid to tell you exactly what she thought.

Next on our list is natural born,

and we typically use this with another word. For example,

a natural born artist or a natural born musician.

And as you might guess,

this describes someone who seems to have a very natural ability for something

from a very young age. For example,

your daughter is a natural born artist. She has such a good eye for color.

Number four in this category is tenacious.

This describes someone who holds on to an idea or a goal with

determination. For example,

Celeste is tenacious and never gives up during in a negotiation.

And finally, our last adjective for this list today is visionary.

This perfectly describes someone who sees or imagines future

possibilities. For example, Yulia is a visionary expert.

She changed the field of AI with her groundbreaking ideas.

You now have 32 powerful, precise,

and positive adjectives you can use to describe people in English.

Now that we've come to the end of the lesson, I have two things for you.

Number one,

I do have some practice questions for you so that you can immediately begin

practicing some of the key words you want to add into your English vocabulary.

And number two, I want to share a bonus activity with you as well. So first,

a couple of practice questions. I want you to think about someone you admire.

It could be a best friend, a coworker, or a mentor.

Choose two or three adjectives that you've learned today to describe that

individual in practice. Question number two,

I want you to reflect on someone you consider to be a leader.

It can be a leader in your industry or a leader in a particular hobby

that you have. Again,

choose a few of the words from the list that you've learned today and describe

that individual. If you want,

you can share your example sentences with me down in the comments below.

If you want to get more practice.

And I recommend that you do over at my Speak Confident English website.

You can visit this lesson and when you do,

I've got a downloadable worksheet you can use to practice what you've learned

here,

making sure that you truly understand each of these adjectives and

some extra bonus questions for you to practice as well to easily access that

downloadable worksheet.

I'll leave a link to this lesson in the notes below the video.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope that you found this helpful,

and if you did, I would love to know. You can tell me in a few very simple ways.

Number one, give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube. And number two,

subscribe to my Speak Confident English Channel so you never miss one of my

Confident English lessons. Lastly, share a comment with me down below.

Thanks again and I'll see you next time.