Get these words to improve your essay grades in English. Use them to describe mood, point of view and character, and also to build your own insults. Genius! Words with positive connotations are bold. Negative words are in italics. For every other word, it depends on context.

grand, elegiac, haughty, self-important, condescending

mundane, everyday, matter of fact, ordinary

haunted, haunting, ethereal, ghostly, vague, unearthly, deathly

tranquil, tranquility, peaceful, calm, contemplative, self-focussed, self-obsessed, self-centred, meditative, metaphysical, sanguine, unruffled, uninterested, disinterested

quick-tempered, angry, choleric, fierce, violent, vicious, volatile, furious, ferocious, belligerent

inquisitive, curious

disappointed, thwarted ambition, ambitious, vaulting ambition, hubristic, optimistic, pessimistic

selfish, selfless

immoral, amoral, constant, trusting, devious, faithless, inconstant

quick-witted, vivacious, lively, sharp, self-aware, complacent, unreliable narrator

exclamatory, grief-stricken, grieving, mournful, melancholy


idealistic, realistic

destructive, self-destructive

innocent, pure, naive, ignorant, blunt, integrity, clear-sighted, far-sighted, wise