Adjectives to Describe Feelings

Everyday we experience very different feelings in different situations and sometimes we need to share our feelings with a friend or our family. To talk about how we feel, we need to learn the adjectives to describe feelings.


In everday life we may experience some positive and negative feelings. Happiness is one of those feelings, but we also experience feelings such as anger when something goes wrong, excitement when we can’t wait for our summer holiday or anxiety when we worry about something a lot.


When we talk about happiness, anger or anxiety we use different adjectives to talk about those feelings.  

Now it is time to learn some adjectives to describe the feelings we experience in our everyday life. 





Adjectives to describe happiness

Contented

Contented is used when you are happy and satisfied with your life or with the situation.


Example sentences:

  • My dog feels warm and contented when he eats his food and lies on the cozy sofa.
  • Sofia earns a good salary and she has a great family with two children and a loving husband. She must be contented with her life.
  • After a long holiday in Miami, all I can say is, I am contented.



Delighted

We use delighted when we are very happy especially because something good happened. 

You can also say “I’d be delighted.” to show your desire to go somewhere, when someone invites you.

Example sentences:

  • I’m delighted to hear that you got the job.
  • We are delighted with our new house in the countryside.
  • Jacob is delighted to get the acceptance letter from the university.
  • A: Would you like to join us for dinner this evening? We are going to Nostrana on Morrison Street. It’s a nice Italian restaurant. B: I’d be delighted! What time shall we meet?


Grateful

If someone has done something for you and you would like to thank them, you can use the adjective grateful.

You can say:

I am grateful for something

I am grateful to someone for doing something or  

I am grateful that …


Example sentences:

  • I’m grateful for your support.
  • I am grateful for your help with my Chemistry homework.
  • We are grateful to you for helping us move.
  • Bryan is grateful that you lent him some money when he lost his bank card last week.


Adjectives to describe unhappiness

Discontented

Discontented is the opposite of contented. You can use it when you are not happy or satisfied with your life or with the situation.

  • The employees in the office are discontented with the pay raise.
  • Amelia feels discontented in her marriage. I think she already asked for a divorce from her husband. 
  • He was only a discontented man years ago, then he started to write and became a famous author. Now he seems to find the aim of his life.


Miserable

Miserable means extremely sad. When you are miserable, the situation is more serious than just being sad, you may feel like the world is against you and it my take some time to get over this feeling. 


Example sentences:

  • He was miserable for weeks after breaking up with his girlfriend.
  • I’ve applied for almost 10 jobs and none of the companies got back to me. I feel so miserable.
  • I had a miserable life in the past, but I stopped focusing on the negative and it changed my life a lot.


Frustrated

You can use frustrated when you want to do something but you cannot do it, or when something does not work, it bothers you, you feel upset.


Example sentences:

  • Learning how to drive is a bit difficult to me. Today during my driving lessons, I got really frustrated when I couldn’t park. 
  • We were frustrated with the weather when we had to cancel our trip because of the rain.
  • I am frustrated with baking! I don’t know why my cakes always get burnt.
  • Arthur is frustrated with his new phone, its battery dies so quickly.


Adjectives to describe anger

Cross

Cross is used when you are angry at someone but it is usually because of little things. Cross is usually used with the preposition 'with'. You say, cross with someone.

Example sentences:

  • My six-year-old didn’t share her toys with her brother. She said, I am cross with him, he ate my candies.
  • Aria is cross with us for not inviting her when we met, but it wasn’t something planned before.
  • Zoey is cross with Dan. He said he didn’t like her new haircut.


Furious 

Furious means your are full of anger. When you are furious you are very angry so you may huff and puff for a while, I mean you breathe very loudly till you calm down and your breath is normal again after some time.

You can say furious with somebody or furious at something.

Example sentences:

  • My dad was furious with me when I crashed his car.
  • He was furious at the customer service when they kept her wait for 20 minutes on the phone.
  • I am furious at the people who smoke in a non-smoking area!



Resentful 

When you are resentful, you feel angry and sad. You feel hurt because you think that someone has done or said something to you and you don’t deserve it. It was unfair.

Example sentences:

  • I was resentful at their comments about me.
  • She was resentful at her family when they didn’t let her go camping with her friends.


Adjectives to describe anxiety

Nervous 

When you worry about something and keep thinking about what is going to happen or how it is going to happen, then you feel nervous. When you are nervous you also have a little fear and it is almost impossible to relax.

You can also use the word anxious in this situation.


Example sentences:

  • I was so nervous during the interview that I can’t even remember all of the questions now. I hope I’ll get the job.
  • She always gets nervous before getting on a plane and she can’t sleep the night before the flight.
  • Riley is nervous because she is going to give a presentation in front of two professors tomorrow.



Anxious 

Anxious is used when you feel uncomfortable about something and you keep thinking about it. You feel like this because you are not sure what is going to happen, it’s unknown.

Example sentences:

  • This COVID-19 made me totally crazy. I am extremely anxious about catching the virus.
  • Unemployment rates have been raising rapidly in the last year and young people are anxious about their future.
  • She has been waiting waiting for the test results at the hospital for two hours now, she is tired and anxious.



Adjectives to describe fear

Afraid 

This word is used when you feel fear. You can say, I am afraid of … when you think that something may hurt you or your brain makes you think that you are in danger. 

Afraid is usually used with the preposition of. 

You can say: afraid of + noun or afraid of + verb + -ing

(i.e. afraid of the dark or afraid of being alone)

Scared is another word you can use in the same situation. It has the same meaning as afraid.

You also use scared with the preposition of. Scared of … 


Example sentences:

  • Vanessa is afraid of heights. She wants to live in an apartment on the first or second floor.
  • I was afraid of water for many years, therefore I couldn’t learn how to swim till the age of 23.
  • I am afraid of driving. I always think that I may get stuck in traffic and then have a panic attack.


Adjectives to describe shyness

Embarrassed

Embarrassed is used when you feel uncomfortable and shy because of something you did or said. As a result, you think that other people may think you are crazy or weird or they can laugh at you.

Example sentences:

  • The teacher asked for a country and Eric answered: 'Africa!'. He was to embarrassed to find out that Africa is a continent not a country.
  • I was trying to send a message to my girlfriend, but then, I made a mistake and sent it to the worng person – my boss. You can’t imagine how embarrassed I was!
  • We had an amazing dinner and then check came. Guess what happened? He realized he had forgotten his wallet at home. He was so embarrassed at first but then we started to laugh.