Personality Adjectives & Character Traits

English Vocabulary

Personality Adjectives & Character Traits in English

101 POSITIVE adjectives to describe a person

While some of these adjectives are listed as positive, some people may consider them negative.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

I am …

adaptable: able to change in order to deal successfully with new situations.

• Adaptable people are resourceful and often have a contingency plan in place for when Plan A doesn’t work.

adventurous: willing to take risks or to try out new ideas or experiences.

• He is very adventurous and loves going to exotic places where he doesn’t speak the language.

affectionate: readily showing caring feelings or tenderness for someone

• My kids are very affectionate. They are always giving me hugs.

approachable: friendly and easy to talk to

• Despite being a famous actor, he was very approachable.

artistic: having natural creative skill, especially being able to paint or draw well.

• She comes from an artistic family.

attentive: helpful; making sure that people have what they need.

• The hotel staff were attentive.

bold: fearless before danger; brave and confident; not afraid to say what you feel.

• The young man is already considered a bold warrior.

brave: courageous; not afraid to do things that are difficult or dangerous; to have mental strength to face danger.

• I think you are brave to want to change your life and go and live in a foreign country.

bright: intelligent; clever; quick to learn new things.

• She is the brightest student in her class.

calm: not excited or nervous; not showing agitation or excitement

• He is always calm under pressure.

careful: always thinking about what you are doing so that you avoid getting hurt, avoid damaging something or doing something wrong.

• They have been careful not to waste any money while saving for a house.

cautious: careful to avoid potential problems or dangers.

• She is a very cautious driver.

charismatic: having a compelling charm which attracts or impresses other people.

• He is a charismatic leader.

charming: very polite, friendly and likeable; very pleasant

• Everyone likes him because he is so charming.

cheerful: noticeably happy and showing it by the way you behave

• It was nice talking to that cheerful shop assistant at the local store.

clever: intelligent; quick to understand things or learn something.

• She is very clever and has no problem getting good grades.

compassionate: feeling or showing sympathy or concern for other people or animals who are suffering or having a difficult time.

• During difficult times, compassionate people reach out to help those in need.

confident: feeling sure about your own ability to do things successfully

• He is always confident that every project he starts will be successful.

conscientious: taking care to do things carefully and correctly.

• He is a conscientious worker who likes to get things done right the first time.

considerate: always thinking of the feelings and rights of other people; being careful not to hurt or upset other people; careful not to inconvenience or harm others.

• Angelica is a considerate young woman who always thinks of others.

cooperative: to have a willingness and ability to work with others.

• You can always ask Jim to help you; he is very cooperative.

courageous: brave; not deterred by danger or pain; showing courage.

• It was courageous of you to stand up to those bullies.

courteous: polite, especially in a way that shows respect; considerate in manner

• She was so courteous when we went to her office.

creative: having the skill and ability to create something new, especially art; can easily use the imagination for original ideas or to create something.

• My son is very creative. He is always telling us fantastic stories that he has made up.

curious: have a strong desire to investigate and learn about (new) things.

• I was very curious when I was a child and always asked difficult questions to adults.

decisive: to have the ability to decide something quickly and with confidence.

• I am glad she is so decisive because it saves us time.

dedicated: devoted to a task or purpose; working hard at something because it is important to you.

• She is a dedicated teacher who works many extra hours to help her students.

delightful: very pleasant; highly pleasing

• Your children are delightful. They can come and stay with us whenever they want.

dependable: trustworthy and reliable; can be relied on to do what you want or need

• It is great having a dependable person who can help me manage the store.

determined: having the ability to make a firm decision and being resolved not to change it.

• The opposition against his project made him even more determined to complete it.

diligent: having or showing care and effort in your work or studies

• You are such a diligent student that I’m sure you will easily get into the university of your choice.

diplomatic: having the skill to deal with people (using tact and conciliation) in difficult situations , especially in order to keep the peace.

• She is very diplomatic and is careful not to offend anyone.

disciplined: to show a controlled form of behavior or way of working

• He is very disciplined and trains every single day to try and get to the Olympic Games.

discreet: careful in what you say or do in order to keep something confidential (or secret) or to avoid making someone feel embarrassed; tactful.

• The doctor is very discreet and won’t let anyone else know about your health issue.

dynamic: having a lot of energy and a strong personality.

• He is a dynamic person and a great addition to our sales team.

easygoing (US) / easy-going (UK): relaxed and casual in style or manner.

• I’m glad our boss is so easy-going.

efficient: working in a good, well-organized and competent way with no waste of time or money.

• She has always been an efficient worker.

energetic: having a lot of energy (and enthusiasm)

• The child is young and energetic.

enthusiastic: having a lot of excitement and interest about things.

• He is always so enthusiastic about everything he does.

faithful: loyal; always staying with or supporting a person or organization.

• He is a faithful husband.

fearless: not afraid, in a way that people can admire; brave

• A firefighter has to be fearless when putting out a fire.

flexible: able to change and adapt to new or different situations.

• I’m flexible; I can do any odd jobs that suddenly come up.

focused: directs a lot of attention or activity towards a certain goal without distraction.

• He is always very focused when he is doing his job.

forgiving: ready and willing to forgive

• Don’t worry about what you did to him. He is very forgiving.

friendly: behaves in a kind and pleasant way towards people.

• Your grandmother is so friendly.

funny: makes people laugh easily; easily causes amusement.

• He is really funny and always makes us laugh.

generous: gives freely to other people, often giving more than necessary or more than what was asked for.

• She is so generous because she always donates a part of her salary to charity every month.

gentle: calm and kind; doing things in a careful way to avoid harming someone.

• Yes, the giant looks big and scary but he is really gentle.

genuine: sincere and honest; a person that can be trusted; real

• He came across as a very genuine person.

hardworking (US) / hard-working (UK): tending to put a lot energy and commitment into a job in order to do it well; diligent.

• She just got a pay rise because she is such a hard-working employee.

helpful: willing to help other people; having a disposition to help or improve a particular situation.

• Their staff are very helpful whenever you have any doubts.

honest: always tells the truth; never cheats; free from fraud or deception.

• You can trust him because he is very honest.

humble: to be modest and not proud or arrogant; to have or show a low estimate of one’s importance.

• Despite having an important position in the company, he is very humble.

imaginative: constantly having new and exciting ideas; having a good imagination or showing creativity.

• You must be very imaginative if you can come up with a story like that!

intelligent: good at thinking in a logical way about things; has the ability to learn and understand things quickly.

• You’re intelligent so you should be able to solve this problem quickly.

intuitive: being instinctive which is based on what you feel to be true even without conscious facts or reasoning.

• She is very intuitive; she seems to know what is going to happen before it does.

kind: caring about other people; gentle, friendly, sympathetic or helpful towards others.

• Our grandparents were always kind to us when we were growing up.

lively: full of life and energy; enthusiastic and outgoing

• Our lively fitness instructor asked if we wanted to have another class.
• He’s very lively and always has time to try new things and make new friends.

loving: feeling or showing love or care for somebody; affectionate

• They are a loving family.

loyal: faithful; remaining constant in your support of someone

• Thank you for being such a loyal friend.

mature: behaving in a sensible way with the mental and emotional development characteristic of an adult.

• Jessica is very mature for her age.

modest: not talking much about your own abilities or achievements; humble

• She has always been very modest about her success.

motivated: having a strong desire to do well or succeed in something, even if it involves hard work.

• I am motivated to help as many people as possible to learn English.

nice: kind, friendly and pleasant.

• I love hanging out with him because he's a really nice guy.

observant: good at noticing or paying attention to things that are around you.

• The reason he is knows what to do at exactly the right time is because he is so observant.

open-minded: willing to listen to and consider different viewpoints or ideas; unprejudiced.

• She is very open-minded and loves trying different things from other cultures.

optimistic: hopeful and confident about the future; expecting good things to happen or that something will be successful.

• George is optimistic and always sees the best in every situation.

passionate: having strong feelings of enthusiasm or a strong belief in something

• She has always been passionate about the well-being of animals.

patient: able to tolerate delays or difficulties without becoming annoyed or anxious.

• You just have to be patient and wait until I've finished.

peaceful: not violent; quiet and calm; not upset or worried in any way.

• He is so peaceful; he wouldn't hurt a fly.

perceptive: having sensitive insight; good at seeing or understanding things quickly, especially things that are not obvious.

• It was very perceptive of you to notice that I was having difficulty.

persistent: determined to continue doing something despite difficulties or being in an undesirable situation.

• He phoned again asking for an interview. He's very persistent.

playful: full of fun; always wanting to play; light-hearted and cheerful.

• He is still playful despite being an adult.

polite: courteous and with good manners toward other people.

• She is always polite when she visits the in-laws.

positive: optimistic; thinking about what is good in a situation; confident that something good will happen.

• Despite going through some difficult times, she managed to remain positive.

practical: makes sensible decisions and is realistic; skilled at manual tasks.

• Frank will fix it - he's quite practical.

proactive: creates or controls a situation instead of just responding to it after it has happened.

• It is great having such a proactive person on our team.

prudent: acting with or showing care and thought for the future.

• It would be prudent not to spend all of your savings at once.

punctual: always arriving on time; never late.

• She has always been punctual, even if it means she has to run to get there on time.

rational: having thoughts or making decisions based on reason rather than on emotion.

• He is very rational and never lets his emotions get the better of him.

realistic: having a sensible and practical idea of what can be achieved or expected.

• He thinks he can complete that difficult task though he is also realistic and knows he may not be able to do it.

relaxed: calm; not worried; free from tension and anxiety

• He is always relaxed. It seems that nothing bothers him.

reliable: can be trusted to do something well; you can depend or rely on them.

• He may appear to be disorganized but he is in fact quite reliable.

resilient: able to quickly recover from unpleasant or damaging events

• She must be resilient if she can handle all of those setbacks.

resourceful: good at finding clever ways of doing things, solving problems or overcoming problems.

• He has a reputation for being a resourceful problem-solver.

respectful: shows respect to others

• She is always respectful when talking to her elders.

responsible: behaves properly and sensible, without needing to be supervised.

• She is always allowed to work from home because she is a responsible person.

romantic: does or says things that make their partner feel special and loved; readily demonstrating feelings of love.

• Her husband is very romantic and always leaves special little surprises for her around the house.

sensible: to be practical and reasonable; having or using good sense or sound judgment.

• It seems sensible to have a routine checkup by a doctor before going overseas.

sincere: genuine; not pretended; saying what you really think or feel.

• I think his offer to help me move house was sincere.

sociable: very friendly and likes spending time with other people.

• She will have no problem making friends at her new school because she's very sociable.

straightforward: uncomplicated and easy to be understood.

• He love dealing with him because he is so straightforward.

supportive: providing encouragement and emotional help or sympathy.

• You have been very supportive of me during these hard times.

thoughtful: think about and care for other people; you remember what other people need or want.

• Thank you for helping me. That was very thoughtful of you.

tolerant: able to accept what other people say or do even if you don't agree with it or like it.

• We must be tolerant of others and not try and convince them of our own way of thinking.

trusting: tending to believe in other people's honesty or sincerity; not suspicious.

• He is very trusting and will believe what anyone says.

trustworthy: capable of being trusted; you can rely on them to be good or honest.

• You can allow him to look after the money. He is very trustworthy.

unassuming: modest; not pretentious or arrogant; not wanting to draw attention to yourself or to what your abilities.

• His unassuming manner gave no hint of his vast knowledge of other languages.

understanding: to have the ability to understand people and forgive them when they do something different or wrong.

• The teacher was understanding because she knew that her students were new to this type of task.

versatile: able to do many different things

• He is a versatile actor who can play a variety of roles.

witty: quickly clever and humorous; characterized by a quick and inventive verbal humor.

• She is so witty. She can think of a funny remark about anything I say.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

List of Positive Personality Adjectives

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