50 Words, Idioms and Phrases to Describe People & Personalities Positively

adjectives and idioms to describe a person's personality to describe how they think how they

act how they show up or are in the world this is going to be the best lesson on this topic and

i'm going to categorize these adjectives in a way that helps you to remember them we're also going

to have a section of adjectives that i highly suggest you use when you need to describe yourself

in an interview or another opportunity in your professional life now if you enjoy

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this week's video we're going to focus on positive attributes or positive descriptors

in another lesson perhaps next week we'll talk about negative adjectives and

idioms but this week let's keep it positive let's talk about how to describe people in

a positive light in the next 10 minutes you will improve your vocabulary including advanced words

phrases and idioms to describe people you'll improve your listening skills and your speaking

skills if you practice repeating the words along with me you'll improve your pronunciation

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i suggest you try it out today we'll explore adjectives in categories as opposed to

a long list of random adjectives or an alphabetically organized list the best way to

actually memorize vocabulary in general and for this topic describing personalities is to group

the words by general meaning and in that way you can associate them together you can think well i

can use these words in similar situations when i want to describe a certain kind of person and

that's how our brain works is we want to associate ideas or vocabulary words together now let's jump

in the first descriptive word is one that is super basic but we're going to explore more advanced

vocabulary to describe a nice person probably the most basic way to describe someone positively

is they are nice a quite advanced word to me nice is affable we don't use this in conversational

english but it's more of an advanced word that you might see in writing she's kind considerate

thoughtful amicable means polite friendly respectful warm-hearted kind generous instead of

saying she's nice all the time try using some of these other adjectives cheerful helpful selfless

selfless means that this person is so helpful they even help someone else before they help themselves

courteous courteous is also like considerate thoughtful respectful diplomatic a diplomatic

person is able to deal with difficult people or difficult situations someone who is tactful and

someone who is nice could have a heart of gold someone who's smart instead of saying smart we

could say bright she's so bright she's witty or quick witted she has a quick witted humor meaning

that she is very funny but in a smart way clever brilliant intelligent alert someone who's alert

is smart but it could also mean a bit anxious always watching for the next thing that could

happen instead of smart we could describe someone as a smart cookie she's a smart cookie why cookie

i don't know but it's a great idiom to use or wiz kid this is not just for children or kids

he's a real whiz kid could describe someone who is smart but keep in mind that whiz kid is

casual so you might not describe your boss this way but maybe a colleague or someone who's kind of

on the same level as you like a friend or someone who is in your class with personality we have this

whole idea of type a or type b a type a person is someone who's a bit high strung or uptight

maybe they don't relax very easily they could be a bit tense which is not really a positive

attribute but type a can be positive someone who's organized put together determined

ambitious their eyes are on the prize they keep their eyes on the prize or they are goal oriented

they have it together they're usually meticulous and detail-oriented they have eagle eyes meaning

they see all the details a type a person is the type of person you want to have as your lawyer

or someone who's helping you with a detailed contract for example a type b person on the

other hand is more easy going laid back go with the flow type b can be more spontaneous creative

imaginative but perhaps on the negative side a bit scatter brained or spacey but the good thing is

they tend to be adaptable down to earth and in general happy campers i would say i'm a little

of type a and a little of type b it depends on the day what about you are you more type a or type b

introverted and extroverted a person who is introverted tends to spend more time on their

own someone who is funny has a good sense of humor they might be a barrel of laughs a

live wire someone who is quite energetic always cracking jokes a live wire means energetic someone

who is full of life full of energy exuberant lively exuberant is such a great word it's fun

to say exuberant someone who has a zest for life or joie de vivre yes we use this phrase

in english even though it is french personally i love when i find phrases from other languages that

we use in english can you think of any others now this lesson wouldn't be complete without talking

about how to describe yourself in a positive light for an interview or professional situation

and also how to describe other people who might be strong leaders or someone you want to recommend

she's open-minded no we don't say broad-minded i think this is more british english someone who is

open-minded is open to new ideas this is important when you're a leader and when you want to

learn new things in an industry and you want to stay on the cutting edge

if you are pioneering this means that you're an early adopter you are staying on the cutting edge

always learning about new technology and trying it out being reliable trustworthy dependable or

a solid person are all really important when you have a leadership role can people count on you can

they rely on you then you're dependable you show up you do what you said you would do you are a man

of his word or woman of her word it's important to be decisive to be able to make decisions

to be frank means to be honest straightforward you don't beat around the bush to beat around the bush

means to hem and ha to say ah well i don't know i'm not sure to beat around the bush

means you are not direct you are not honest or straightforward you don't want to give someone

bad news leaders are often sociable they might be social butterflies maybe a bit extroverted

at least for the purpose of networking it could be described as a people person even gregarious

gregarious is someone who talks a lot easily but sometimes too much so this word could be negative

but it basically means someone who's very outgoing or extroverted you have the gift of gab gab means

talking so the gift of gab means it's easy for you to talk with other people on the other hand a good

leader could also be introverted someone who's more intuitive or who understands something with

their gut feeling as opposed to needing a lot of data modest means that you're not full of yourself

you're not boastful you're not egotistical so even though you have achieved a lot even though

you're a good leader you're still modest you're an action taker you're proactive a go-getter

ambitious assertive you don't want to show up as overly emotional you want to be even keeled calm

rational and even have a poker face a poker face means you don't show your feelings you don't show

your hand now this could be slightly negative depending on how you're describing a person in

what situation however even though you don't want to be overly emotional you do want to be

passionate passionate about your work passionate about your goals and achieving things persistent

you are resilient if you fall down you get back up if at first you don't succeed you try and try

again you're persistent and resilient you're goal oriented you're driven you're ambitious you're

confident or self-confident salt of the earth salt of the earth means someone who is honest

straightforward and hard working optimistic someone who thinks positively also you could

be a realist someone who thinks positively but within reality so not overly optimistic you're

resourceful meaning you are creative in finding resources you're versatile meaning you can do a

lot of different things perhaps a jack of all trades someone who can do a lot of different

tasks successfully a linchpin meaning that you are not replaceable you can do so many things

that really only you can do the way that you do them you are irreplaceable you're a linchpin

a mover and a shaker so i would probably only use this to describe someone else i think it

would sound a little strange if i said yeah i'm a real mover and a shaker it just means that

you take action you're always trying new things you're networking with people you get things done

and you're out and about in the world people know who you are and that you're interesting you're fun

you're bubbly you you are never stagnant you don't stay in one place or doing the same thing for too

long and a couple other adjectives to close this out that i would only use to describe other people

would be top dog someone who is really at the top one percent of their group a top dog or a major

player someone who is influential in their space their profession their field their company so tell

me how would someone describe you how would your colleagues describe you tell me in the comments

and practice using some of these adjectives and idioms to describe personality just a few things

before we wrap up class we have new lessons each week but you have to subscribe to know

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notification about when they go live so thanks so much for watching i hope you enjoyed this lesson

you're an amazing person you're gonna go far with your english if you just keep going just

don't quit don't give up thanks for watching i'll talk to you again next week bye for now