Describing People in English: 100+ Words, Examples & Tips

Key takeaways:

• You can describe someone fully by covering four areas: appearance, mannerisms, personality, and feelings.
• Use positive and respectful adjectives to talk about physical traits (like height or facial features) and character traits (like “generous” or “shy”).
• The article includes comparison tables, pronunciation tips, and 10+ example sentences to help you describe people naturally.
• Be cautious with sensitive words; terms related to body shape or attractiveness should be used politely or even avoided if unnecessary.
• With regular practice, you’ll become confident using English to describe anyone (from friends to fictional characters) with clarity and kindness.

There are almost eight billion people in the world, and each one of us is unique and beautiful. We all have our own special features, and it’s important to know how to describe someone clearly and politely. 

Whether you need a short description of a person for a quick introduction, or you’re looking for physical descriptions examples to make your writing more vivid, understanding the right words and structures is key.

In this article, we’ll explore how to tackle the description of people in English, share appearance examples you can use in everyday conversation, and highlight the parts of speech that will help you sound accurate and respectful. 

So, make yourself comfortable, and let’s dive into this interesting topic together.

What are the main ways of describing a person?

For most people, it is easy to describe themselves or introduce themselves to other people. But when it comes to the situations where you need to explain the appearance, character, or actions of another person, especially in English, you may feel like you’ve forgotten all the words. 

Don’t worry, we know how to help you. Here are four common steps for a complete person’s description:

• Describing their appearance: Explain what the person looks like, including their height, hair, face, and other visible features. Use adjectives for details (e.g., tall, curly-haired, bright-eyed).
• Describing their mannerisms: Mention the unique ways in which they move, speak, or act. Use action verbs to make this vivid (e.g., walks quickly, laughs softly).
• Describing their character: Talk about their personality traits and other qualities you can’t see with your eyes. Use adjectives like "kind," "confident," or "shy."
• Describing their feelings: Sometimes you can guess how a person feels based on their appearance or actions. For example: “She looks exhausted after a 15-hour shift.” Use adjectives like "happy," "tired," or "worried."

Politeness tip: Always choose words you’d be happy to hear about yourself. A respectful description makes the conversation more positive and avoids offending anyone.

What is the difference between positive and negative adjectives in people’s descriptions? 

Like we already said, we use adjectives in most description of a person examples. But there are positive ones that we can use as compliments and negative ones that are usually considered offensive. 

Here are some examples of both to help you understand the difference better:

• Positive adjectives: calm, clever, easy-going, broad-minded, enthusiastic, intelligent, efficient, creative, nice, dependable, hardworking, and ambitious. 
• Negative adjectives: nasty, aggressive, cynical, overcritical, bad-tempered, dishonest, intolerant, irresponsible, unpleasant, or possessive. 

As you can see, most of these words are examples of describing a person on the inside, not the outside. That’s because we believe everyone is beautiful, and physical characteristics shouldn’t be seen as negative.

Of course, people can still have both pleasant and unpleasant traits when it comes to character and behavior. This is where positive adjectives describe someone as kind or likable, while negative adjectives may apply to someone whose actions or attitude aren’t so nice.

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Appearance Comparison Table

Understanding how to describe people involves choosing the right vocabulary. Here’s a helpful table comparing common adjectives used in physical appearance, along with sample sentences:

You can use these as templates to build your own descriptions.

Personality vs. Appearance: Key Differences

When describing people, it’s important to know the difference between personality and appearance:

• Appearance is what someone looks like: hair, height, skin color, clothes, etc.
• Personality is how someone behaves: friendly, funny, shy, confident, etc.

You see appearance, but you feel or observe personality through actions and words. For example, a person can look serious but actually be very kind and warm-hearted.

Tip: Use both types of descriptions when talking about people to paint a complete picture!

Short Description Toolkit: Adjectives & Pronunciation

Learning the ways of describing people in English is really important. And now that you know about different types of adjectives, it’s time to learn a bit more of them. Let’s see what words you can use to describe what someone looks like.

Describing a face

The first thing you see when looking at another person is their face. There are many parts of it – eyes, nose, hair, eyebrows, cheeks, etc. And you can use countless adjectives to describe them all. 

Here is the list of words you can use to mention every part of someone’s face:

Face

• Round (rownd)
• Oval (OH-vuhl)
• Square (skwair)
• Triangle (TRY-ang-guhl)
• Long (lawng)
• Freckled (FREK-uhld)
• Rosy (ROH-zee)
• Puffy (PUH-fee)

Eyes

• Hooded (HOO-did)
• Round (rownd)
• Almond-shaped (AHL-muhnd shaypt)
• Deep set (deep set)
• Close set (klohs set)
• Wide set (wyd set)

Eyebrows

• Shaggy (SHAG-ee)
• Thin (thin)
• Plucked (pluhkt)
• Arched (ahrtcht)
• Soft arch (soft arch)
• High arch (hy arch)
• Thick (thik)

Eyelashes

• Long (lawng)
• Short (short)
• Straight (strayt)
• Curled (kerld)
• False (fawls)

Nose

• Humped (humpt)
• Pointed (POYN-tid)
• Sharp (shahrp)
• Straight (strayt)
• Snub (snuhb)
• Aquiline (AK-wuh-lyn)
• Turned up (ternd up)

Cheeks

• Hollow (HOL-oh)
• Chubby (CHUH-bee)

Mouth

• Firm (furm)
• Big (big)
• Full-lipped (fool-lipt)
• Small (smawl)
• Lopsided (LOP-sy-did)
• Toothless (TOOTH-lis)

Hair

• Blonde (blond)
• Brunette (broo-NET)
• Dark (dark)
• Light (lyt)
• Curly (KER-lee)
• Straight (strayt)
• Redhead (RED-hed)
• Smooth (smoodh)
• Silky (SIL-kee)

And here is another tip for you on how to describe someone: if you’re not completely sure about a detail, you can add the -ish ending to an adjective. This shows that something is approximately a certain color or quality.

For example, if you’re unsure whether someone’s hair is dark blonde or light brown, you could say it’s “brownish.” This way, you give a close description without needing to be exact.

And now, it is time to move to the next describing a person example. 

Describing a body

Another important part of people’s appearances is their bodies. Just like the face, it also has many parts that deserve dozens of adjectives. So, what words can you use to describe one’s figure, stature, legs, arms, etc.? Here are some examples: 

Stature

• Tall (tawl)
• Short (short)
• Skinny (SKIN-ee)
• Chubby (CHUH-bee)
• Thin (thin)
• Slim (slim)
• Plump (pluhmp)
• Overweight (OH-ver-wayt)
• Curvy (KER-vee)
• Muscular (MUS-kyuh-ler)
• Neat (neet)
• Lean (leen)
• Petite (puh-TEET)

Shoulders

• Broad (brawd)
• Delicate (DEL-uh-kit)
• Sloping (SLOH-ping)

Legs

• Shapely (SHAYP-lee)
• Thick (thik)
• Feminine (FEM-uh-nin)
• Scrawny (SKRAW-nee)
• Sinewy (SIN-yoo-ee)
• Athletic (ath-LET-ik)
• Long (lawng)
• Sleek (sleek)
• Crooked (KROO-kid)

Arms

• Beefy (BEE-fee)
• Powerful (POW-er-fuhl)
• Muscular (MUS-kyuh-ler)
• Skinny (SKIN-ee)

Once again, remember to be careful when describing someone’s body shape. Words about appearance can be sensitive, and certain terms (like "fat," "skinny," or "ugly") may hurt people’s feelings. If possible, avoid mentioning body shape at all.

But, if you do need to include it, try to use general and neutral phrases such as "slim build," "medium build," or "broad-shouldered." This keeps your description respectful and polite.

Physical Description Examples in Sentences

Making a description of people accurately is an important skill when learning English. Whether you're meeting someone new, writing a character for a story, or talking about your friends, it's useful to know how to describe appearance clearly and politely.

Here are 10 simple sentence examples that describe someone’s physical features:

• She has long, straight black hair and brown eyes. (This describes hair length, style, and eye color.)
• He is tall and thin, with a short beard. (A general description of height, body type, and facial hair.)
• My brother is very muscular and has short curly hair. (Describes body build and hair type.)
• They have light skin, green eyes, and freckles. (Includes skin tone, eye color, and facial features.)
• Her smile is bright, and she wears glasses. (Focuses on smile and accessories.)
• He is bald but has a thick mustache. (Mentions hairstyle and facial hair.)
• She’s of average height and wears colorful clothes. (General height and clothing style.)
• The boy has messy hair and big blue eyes. (Describes a younger person with expressive features.)
• My teacher has gray hair and always wears a suit. (Talks about age-related features and clothing.)
• He’s short and stocky, with a round face. (Describes body shape and face structure.)

These examples can help you build your own sentences when talking about people. Just mix and match features like height, hair, eyes, or style to create your own descriptions!

General characteristics

Sometimes, you don’t want to spend time looking for a good way to describe someone. Like when your mom asks you to tell her about the boy you were on a date with. We bet you want to avoid describing his curly hair or almond-shaped eyes. 

Here are some words you can use to characterize one’s general appearance. 

• Beautiful. 

The first word in our list is pretty obvious, but it is still one of the most pleasant things you can say about someone. Collins Dictionary defines beautiful as something pleasant to look at and attractive. For example:

X: What do you think about Jane?

Y: I think she is very beautiful. 

• Good-looking. 

This adjective can describe both physical appearance or someone’s outfit. Its meaning is precisely what you think it is – we use it when discussing someone who looks good. For example:

I met this good-looking British guy yesterday. 

He told his friends that he thinks I’m good-looking! 

• Attractive. 

When someone is attractive, they obviously attract attention. It is another way to say the person is beautiful. For example:

Mike thinks Kate is attractive. 

I love this actor. He is so attractive. 

• Ugly. 

Now it’s time to check some negative adjectives. For example, this one is rather offensive when it comes to describing one’s appearance. But you can still use it when talking about clothes, shoes, etc. This word means something unpleasant and unattractive. For example: 

I can’t believe I’ve spent so much money to get this ugly dress!

Mariah didn’t want to buy ugly shoes for her wedding. 

• Repulsive. 

This is another word that describes an unattractive appearance. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it means something unpleasant or unacceptable. For example:

I thought that guy was repulsive, and today I saw his arrest. 

My neighbor’s pet is so dirty, it’s repulsive. 

• Unsightly. 

This is the last person description example in our list. It is usually used when talking about someone who is very silent, shy, and almost unnoticeable. For example: 

I am a bit afraid of my unsightly classmate.

She was unsightly at school, but now she is a rock star.

Example of a person’s description

Before we move on to the next example of description of a person, let’s review what you’ve learned so far. Meet our (imaginary) friend: Alice. We’ll describe her using the vocabulary from previous lessons, and your job is to imagine what she looks like:

“Alice is attractive. She has a triangle-shaped, freckled face and almond-shaped brown eyes. She’s a redhead with very curly hair. Her eyebrows are thick and plucked, and her eyelashes are long and curved. She has a sharp, slightly upturned nose and full lips. Alice is short and a bit plump.”

Now it’s your turn! Try describing your mom, best friend, partner, or your favorite actor. Use as many appearance words as you can from the lists we’ve covered. Or, open your favorite book and see how the author describes a character. 

Share your descriptions with us in the comments below; we’ll be happy to read them and imagine the person you describe!

How to describe people: Personality

Now that we’ve finished with someone’s appearance, it is time to talk about the inner qualities of the person. As we already said, you can use adjectives to either describe someone's character or to guess the feelings of someone according to their looks. 

In both cases, here are the words you can use. 

• Character: friendly, funny, gentle, generous, courageous, self-confident, shy, silly, sincere, dynamic, imaginative, efficient, talkative, amusing, bright, brave, thoughtful, emotional, supportive, warmhearted, wise, witty, pessimistic, unlucky, introverted, unreliable. 
• Feelings: happy, tired, exhausted, desperate, sad, upset, annoyed, mad, angry, furious, excited, bored, nervous, stressed, anxious, relaxed, well-rested, sleepy, serene.

The difference between these two personality characteristics is that when we describe one’s character, we say, “They are…,” e.g., “They are really wise.” When talking about feelings, on the other hand, we only make assumptions using the construction “They look…,” e.g., “They look sad.” 

Here are some more examples of sentences on how to describe a person’s personality:

• My friend Tara is very generous—she always pays for dinner when we go out. 
• Do you know what happened to Sam? I saw him a minute ago, and he looked upset. 
• Kate’s mom is very wise, so Kate always listens to her advice. 
• I was on a date yesterday, but the guy looked tired all the time, so I was at home till midnight. 
• Mike likes Anne! He told me that he thinks she is very warm-hearted. 

These are only a few examples to get started. But when you expand your vocabulary and learn new adjectives, it will be much easier for you to describe literally anyone. Of course, there are many more words you can use to talk about one’s appearance. 

We will be happy to see which ones you will use in the comments.

Talking about people’s appearance with Promova

If you want to confidently describe someone in English, you’ll need a wide range of adjectives. There are many ways to grow your vocabulary, from reading books to watching TV shows. But if you’d like some extra support, Promova is here to help.

Promova is an international language-learning platform that offers flexible options for learners at all levels. Here’s what you can expect:

• Experience: Learn with professional tutors who know how to help you reach your goals. Choose personal or group lessons based on your proficiency level.
• Accessibility: Students from all over the world can join without worrying about time zones or language barriers. Take a quick fluency test, pick your ideal schedule, and start learning.
• Convenience: Study on our online platform or download the free Promova app for your smartphone or tablet. Access hundreds of topics (including practical examples for describing people) anytime, anywhere.

And that’s just the beginning! You can focus on exactly what interests you. Want to improve your speaking skills? Join our free English Conversation Club and discuss engaging topics with learners from different countries.

Visit the Promova website today and discover the learning path that’s right for you.

Conclusion

To sum up, there’s no fixed order for describing someone’s appearance. The most important thing is to respect boundaries and choose your words politely. This way, you can avoid misunderstandings and ensure your description doesn’t offend anyone.

We hope you found this article helpful, and we are looking forward to reading your own descriptions in the comments!