23 Adjectives to Describe People Positively in English
Would you say that you have a larger than life personality or are you easygoing and laid-back?
Do you know anyone who is a ray of sunshine?
Not sure? No problem. With today’s Confident English lesson, you’ll learn advanced vocabulary to describe a person’s characteristics or personality in a positive way.
Several weeks ago, I shared a lesson with you on How to Describe Your Personality in English. Today we’re going to advance your knowledge and focus specifically on positive traits. (Looking for Negative Adjectives to Describe People in English? I’ve got it for you.)
If I ask you, “What do you love about your best friend,” you’ll know exactly how to respond after today’s lesson.
Advanced vocabulary to say what you love about people.
Lesson by Annemarie
23 Adjectives and Idioms to Describe People Positively in English
A bubbly personality
someone who is very happy, perky, and often optimistic
A ray of sunshine
a happy person who makes others happy; to be warm, kind, bright; someone who is a delight to be around
A Type A personality
someone who is ambitious, goal-driven, focused on achievement, competitive, organized, proactive, and in control
Affectionate
someone who is loving and warm
An old soul
someone who is wise and thoughtful; someone who seems much older than they are with much wisdom
Artistic
someone who is very creative; someone who has a natural ability in art
Charismatic
someone with great charm; one who inspires others or is compelling
Chatty
someone who talks a lot or is easy to talk to; talkative
Classy
elegant; stylish; skillful; someone with high standards for behavior and looks
Down-to-earth
someone who is practical, realistic; sensible
Easygoing
someone who is mostly relaxed and calm; relaxed; laid-back is also often used to describe someone with these traits
Gregarious
someone who is full of life, very social, friendly; someone often described as the life of the party
Industrious
a hard-worker; someone who is skilled and diligent at work
Larger-than-life
someone with a very strong personality; someone who impresses others
Natural-born ______ (for example, a natural-born artist)
someone who has a natural ability at something from a young age
Social butterfly
slang for someone who is dynamic, charismatic, and very social
Sympathetic
someone who is a good listener and listens to others problems; someone who expresses sympathy
Thick-skinned
someone who is not easily upset by criticism or insults
Unassuming
someone who is not arrogant about their abilities; humble; no desire to be noticed or praised
Now I’d love to hear from you.
As always, I have a challenge question for you today. This means you have the opportunity to learn and then immediately practice this advanced vocabulary.
After you’ve watched the video and reviewed the key vocabulary, think of someone you admire very much. Perhaps it’s your best friend, your boss, or your aunt.
And then tell me about this person. Share your thoughts and describe this person with some of the language you’ve learned from today’s lesson.
I look forward to hearing from you. And don’t forget to read comments from others as well. You might learn something new!
~ Annemarie
P.S. Did you love this lesson? Please share with your friends on Facebook. They’ll love you for it.
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Annemarie is very passionate and classy person. I love her style and enjoy her lecture.
Thank you for the kind comment, Vicky. I’m grateful to know you enjoy my lessons.
Hi Anne,
Thanks for sharing such a useful video.
I would like to describe my sister, Sudhi, to you. She is a Type A personality who never loose focus from her goals. She is industrious and works hard to achieve them. At the same time she is sympathetic, caring and affectionate. She is an old soul always guiding and advising me on life lessons. She has recently explored her artistic instincts and I should say she is no less than a natural born artist. She is my life line. She is my ray of sunshine.
What a beautiful way to talk about your sister. Thank you for sharing.
Imformative
Awesome work
Good day Ma’am Anne, you have a very useful and interesting website, congratulations! and thank you very much for sharing your valuable writings and thoughts.I usually task to host a program and the words that you posted are really useful in the assigned task.
Hello Anne this is the first time I visited your website and I really loved it. I liked the way you clearly pronounced each of the new words which will surely help the non-native English speakers learn these words easily. I found your videos quite interesting and to the point. Your language was fluent and easy to understand even for someone who is listening to it for the very first time. And I think I should definitely tell you this you have a beautiful smile 🙂 , also a flamboyant personality.
Hi Annemarie, thanks for yet another wonderful lesson .. you’ve always been so classy in your talks, I’ve been following your lessons since quite sometime now ,and believe me I was really coy about things but now I’ve become a social butterfly who’s larger than life and easy going.
Thanks so much once again for being a real driving force in setting up the vocabulary classes !!
You’re so welcome, Asif, and thank you for the kind comments. You’ve used some of the vocabulary from this lesson and I like your use of ‘driving force.’
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there arent 23 adjectives and idioms in the list shown above. Is the video where that number comes from? If so, maybe change the title directly above the list, its misleading and therefore confusing. If I’m somehow wrong please show me. My statement isn’t being made out of arrogance or ill intent.
If you review all the words in bold font, you’ll notice there are 23 adjectives here.
Hi Annamarie, it’s my pleasure to follow your lessons and and learn new things each time. I have a friend ( where I work ), he is a ray of sun shine and gregarious. He is always helpful and sympathetic. What makes me love and respect him is that he is ( highly honest and clear in soul ). How do say the last words between brackets???
Hi Annamarie . first of all I’d like to thank you for this session. you helped me to know my myself who am I ?? I found out my personal traits and how can I express that using English. And how to form the structure of a sentence which is very hard. I hope you’d see my comment and tell me whether there are mistakes or not. I’d describe myself that I’m rather quiet , I’d prefer to be alone or with some small group. I tend to be unassuming , I always do things silently and let the results… Read more »
What a great description, Mariam! You did a particularly nice job using qualifiers such as rather, tend to, a little bit.
I like what you said, “…I always do things silently and let the results catch the attention…” Another common way to say this is, “let the results speak for themselves.’ It has the same meaning of the sentence you used.
Great work!
Hi Annamarie. First off all , I would like to say thank you for this lesson. My husband is one of my best friends. He is unassuming. He always do things silently and the result always catch someone’s attention.
thank you
Hi,
I’m so glad this lesson was helpful and you had some wonderful ways to describe your husband. I particularly liked your use of the word ‘unassuming.’ Nicely done! 🙂
The lesson is so helpful for me. Thanks. I will use these new words to describe my best friend. Alice is one of my best friend for over 15 years when we was still at college. She is natural – born artistic. She is good at painting and making handcraft stuff. She is good-looking and comes from wealthy family but she is so unassuming. She is kind of sympathetic, she is always willing to listen to others’ trouble or stress and never complaint even if she is stress too. Sometimes I feel she is so perfect. She is ray of… Read more »
Hello Chi, that is fabulous to hear the lesson was useful for you. Your friend Alice sounds positively lovely! I love the way you say ‘she is kind of sympathetic’ and that she is a ‘ray of sunshine’ for you. How special. I would like to help you use grammar correctly in your very first sentence. I think you want to say that you and Alice have been best friends for 15 years, starting from when you were in college, is that right? So you will need present perfect tense at the start of your sentence. So here is the… Read more »
Hi Annemarie. I am so grateful I find you. This lesson was extremely useful and I was hooked since minute one.
I will describe my friend Magdalena. We have been friends for 50 years!
She is an actress with a bubbly personality. Definitely an old soul, charismatic and larger than life. Extremely gregarious and down to earth. Natural- borned to communicate she is sympathetic with people needs and is always looking to help others. She is a pet lover too and has 6 dogs and 2 cats. I am proud of this ray of sunshine in my life.
Hi Susana, thanks so much for the kind comment. I’m thrilled you enjoyed this lesson. And you’ve done a wonderful job describing your friend Magdalena! She sounds like a lot of fun and very kind. I hope you shared this description with her. 🙂
Hi , Annemaria. At first, thank you a lot for this lesson. It helps me to enhance my vocabulary and take another step to fluency and ability to describe other people. I get a question for you. Is there an opposite expression in English to be an old sole? In case when we need to describe someone who isn’t mature and behaviour like a child instead of his natural adult age. I will highly appreciate you for help!
You’re so welcome, Yuliana! I’m thrilled it helped you with your vocabulary. And that’s a great question about the opposite of an old soul. We might use words like:
youthful, child-like, young at heart
Those are the words that come to my mind but hopefully others will share their ideas as well! 🙂
Hi Anne Marie, I often speak in English with my best friend to improve it. I would describe her as a ray of sunshine, stay with her feels me very well and positive . On the contrary to me she has a type A personality but in a good way. At work she is a reserved person but with her friend is very affectionate and gregarious. I would say also that I love your lessons and love your pronounce, it is so clear. I’m studying English and I find the English books boring, but thank to your lessons I found… Read more »
Awesome work describing your best friend, Valentina! And thank you for your kind comments about my lessons. I’m thrilled that they are helpful to you! 🙂
Looking for more describing words for outgoing students.
Hello, Annemarie!
Thanks for this lesson. In today lesson, as I have learned 23 new expressions to describe someone personality in a positive way. I would like to describe the personality of my best friend. He is a very affectionate person. But he is not thick-skinned because he got upset by someone criticism. But for me, he is like a ray of sunshine, when I see him it always gives me a new life.
Best,
Sana
Hello Sana,
I’m so happy to know that you learned so many new words and expressions. And it sounds like you’ve got some great ways to describe your best friend. Thank you for sharing.
Hi, there friends !
I loved this lesson very informative Annemarie. I am glad I find your lesson videos on the fb. Can you please tell me how can I access to the online lesson.
I know one person who has extremely affectionate personality and I would love to be around that individual.
Thank you
Ayesha
Hi Ayesha,
I’m so glad this was a fun and helpful lesson for you!
Could you clarify what you mean by access my lessons online? They are all here on my blog. 🙂
When I listened to the video many of the words reminded me of my best friend and my boyfriend; the one and the same person. He is so easy-going and he is almost impossible to annoy. He is really my ray of sunshine and he always makes me smile no matter what. He is kind of an introvert and shy but still he is really humorous. He is very considerate and affectionate and he always ask curiously about my day. I imagine he is the best colleague or employee one could have. He is so industrious and diligent. He is… Read more »
I have got a doubt with a word pronunciation. You pronounce the word “Often” by including the sound of “t” like “of ten”. Is that correct or acceptable?
Hi Monica,
Yes, that is correct. 🙂
Hello, Annemarie! Thank you for the useful lessons and new vocabulary! Today I want to describe a friend of mine. Firstly, he is a sympathetic person who always supports me in any challenging situations. Secondly, he is an old soul to me, ’cause he can give a very wise piece of advice when I am in a panic and don’t know how to calm down. Thirdly, he is the easygoing man, who inspire me to develop my emotional intellect. But the most important to me, that he is unassuming. All of these make him a good friend to me. I… Read more »
Fantastic, Anna. What a kind, thoughtful description of your friend and I’m glad you’ve found so many new words to use! Well done. 🙂
Hello, Annemarie! Seriously, I was waiting for another lesson from this series. Describing people, as well as things, is pretty difficult in another language. 🙂 The person I want to describe today is my aunt. She is from Russia, but she used to live in Ukraine too. She is definitely a ray of sunshine (when I saw this expression I immediately thought about her). When I was a child I loved visiting her, and not only because she is a great cook and I am that type of a person who loves food (I guess it’s a positive trait, we… Read more »
I loved this!! And I’m so glad you enjoyed the lesson, Maria.
You’re aunt sounds wonderful and you’ve done a great job describing her. A good adjective for someone who loves food and loves to cook is a foodie.
And yes, gregarious is an awesome word. I think you are gregarious.