50 Adjectives To Describe Personality: Find the Most Fitting Word

Updated August 23, 2022
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Describing people is hard, but describing personalities can be its own impossible feat. Sure, you know your adjectives for describing a friend as tall or happy or sad, but that doesn’t really get to the crux of their character or values. Thankfully, it’s never too late to build up your vocabulary to describe your adventurous friends, laid-back teacher, or inconsiderate little brother.

Positive Adjectives To Describe Personality

Whether you’re talking about yourself or someone else, it never hurts to err on the side of positivity. Luckily, you have a ton of positive adjectives right at your fingertips to talk about your affable dad, diplomatic teacher, and trustworthy friend. While you’re at it, you can do some self-reflection and think of yourself as empathetic, sensible, and supportive.

Adjective Definition Synonyms
adventurous willing to take chances or risks; loves to try new things daring, bold, courageous
affable pleasant, kind; gentle; approachable friendly, amiable, good-humored
assertive stands up for oneself while remaining respectful of others confident, self-assured, emphatic
active energetic, involved, ready for anything determined, busy, diligent
cheerful tendency to be upbeat and in good spirits happy, chipper, joyous
considerate keeping others’ feelings in mind before acting accommodating, charitable, thoughtful
convivial always in a good mood; the life of the party cheerful, festive, sociable
diplomatic fair-minded and able to see both sides of a situation tactful, strategic, conciliatory
empathetic willing and able to view situations from the perspectives of others compassionate, sympathetic, understanding
encouraging providing support, guiding others to be hopeful and have a positive outlook supportive, reassuring, hopeful
enthusiastic positive, upbeat attitude; eager to do a good job excited, exuberant, rhapsodic
gregarious upbeat and outgoing; loves being around people and making new friends friendly, sociable, affable
hopeful optimistic: has faith in a good outcome optimistic, cheerful, confident
laid-back relaxed, easy-going; not prone to worry or stress mellow, nonchalant, insouciant
motivated puts energy toward a hopeful outcome driven, influenced, pushed
optimistic expecting the best from people and situations; positive outlook buoyant, idealistic, sanguine
resourceful Having the ability to overcome difficulties in clever, skillful ways bright, quick-witted, inventive
sincere straightforward; honest, truthful earnest, genuine, heartfelt
supportive provides emotional support and encouragement to others encouraging, reassuring, sympathetic
trustworthy dependable, reliable; will keep confidential information to themselves honest, honorable, virtuous

Negative Adjectives To Describe Personality

Unfortunately, most people do have negative qualities to balance out all those positive traits. Having the right negative adjectives to describe a personality ensures that you have the words to talk about a cynical stranger, patronizing principal, and unreliable uncle.

Adjective Definition Synonyms
argumentative stirs up conflicts on purpose or fights unnecessary fights bickering, quarrelsome, contrary
childish prone to selfishness; tends to throw temper tantrums; lack of maturity immature, puerile, naïve
cynical suspicious of others’ intentions; always sees the negative side of a situation pessimistic, derisive, contemptuous
disruptive uses peaceful moments to disturb others or air their own grievances rowdy, unruly, troublesome
hostile tends to be antagonistic or aggressive in demeanor belligerent, contentious, unfriendly
inconsiderate ignores or doesn't care about other people's needs and feelings insensitive, impolite, rude
lazy not willing to put forth effort; does as little work as possible sluggish, lackadaisical, careless
moody emotionally unpredictable, typically negative temperamental, crabby, capricious
one-sided chooses a side and refuses to even engage with the others biased, prejudiced, narrow-minded
patronizing condescending; talks down to others arrogant, pretentious, highfalutin
pessimistic negative outlook; expects the worst outcomes bleak, cynical, negative
resentful feeling bitter at having been treated unfairly indignant, aggrieved, offended
selfish assumes or insists that their needs come first at all times self-centered, egotistical, ungenerous
unreliable can't be counted on to follow-through or do what is needed untrustworthy, fickle, inaccurate
weak exhibits a lack of strength; doesn't effectively handle pressure anemic, powerless, fragile
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Neutral Adjectives To Describe Personality

Along with positive and negative personality traits, most people have those neutral, middle-of-the-road characteristics. Neutral personality adjectives help you describe your steadfast mom, reflective friend, and focused coworkers.

Adjective Definition Synonyms
analytical carefully researches and considers options; seeks to do things right the first time examining, investigative, systematic
collaborative seeks out the thoughts and opinions of others; enjoys working in a team cooperative, synergistic, shared
eager enthusiastic, energetic, ready to move forward ambitious, fervent, restless
extroverted outgoing person who enjoys engaging with other people congenial, sociable, gregarious
focused very goal-directed; doesn't get pulled off course by distractors immersed, engaged, intent
introverted a reflective person who tends to be quiet and reserved reserved, introspective, soft-spoken
mature always behaves appropriately, never childish grown-up, sophisticated, mellowed
nervous anxious and timid in ordinary, everyday situations worried, edgy, apprehensive
passive unable to make active decisions or assert oneself yielding, acquiescent, compliant
practical focused on what is sensible, useful pragmatic, reasonable, sensible
precise detail-oriented and eager to do a good job meticulous, fastidious, scrupulous
reflective tends to look inwardly and/or reflects on situations thoughtfully contemplative, meditative, ruminative
sensible careful, wise, prudent, practical reasonable, practical, shrewd
shy bashful, introverted, tendency to be quiet and reserved self-conscious, cautious, timid
steadfast reliable; loyal; seeks to maintain harmony in relationships dedicated, inflexible, resolute
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Printable List of Adjectives To Describe Personality

Whether you’re creating fictional characters or writing a personal bio, keep a list of adjectives that describe personality handy so you always have great options. 

charts of positive and negative personality adjectives from the article

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Sentence Examples Using Personality Adjectives

Your brain is probably brimming with adjectives to describe a person and personalities, but how do you apply all that vocabulary? The most sensible thing would be to check out some sentence examples. Don’t be shy!

  1. Our optimistic friend made even the cloudiest days seem full of promise and good things.
  2. I tried to not be resentful, but that man took the last bagel that I really wanted.
  3. Her encouraging mom always supported her weirdest hobbies without question.
  4. Even though everyone thought he was extroverted, he tended to be more introverted and happy to spend time at home.
  5. Even the most curmudgeonly strangers seemed to get along with our gregarious friend.
  6. He tended to joke around a lot, but he had his sincere moments once you got to know him.
  7. She was a highly motivated runner who wanted to get a new personal record at the marathon.
  8. He normally wasn’t so argumentative, but he seemed to be extra grumpy this morning.
  9. Her trustworthy nature meant that people were often telling her secrets.
  10. He tried to be considerate by remembering that her favorite pizza toppings were pepperoni, jalapenos, and mushrooms.
  11. As a steadfast friend, he always stuck by my side, even through the worst of times.
  12. The eager campers were ready to set up the tent and get the fire going to roast some hot dogs.
  13. Our convivial friend was always ready to brighten up the mood and boost the energy in the room.
  14. We all appreciated her practical thinking, considering we all tended to overcomplicate problems.
  15. His serious, mature demeanor at work was balanced out by how childish he could be with his friends.
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Other Words To Describe Personalities

You’re equipped with an unreal amount of adjectives for personalities now, but there are so many other words out there to help you describe people. Building up your personal vocabulary is good for your writing and speaking skills, but it also helps you gain more precision when you talk about the people around you.