Personality Traits! When we are talking about either ourselves or other people in the English language, it is not unusual to want to talk about someone’s personality traits. But in order to do this, we must have these words in our vocabulary. In this article, we are going to be looking at the different words we can use to describe the personality of a person as well as looking at a variety of examples to further explain how they work.
What Is A Personality Trait?
A personality trait is a word which we use to describe a certain feature of someone’s personality. Quite often, these words are used as adjectives to describe a person. It is important to note that when using a word to talk about personality traits, that they are usually used with the verb ‘to be.’ For example: I am brave or she is friendly.
It is interesting to note that we can determine our personality type by noticing our personality traits and there is even a test called the Myers-Briggs personality type test which you can use for this.
There are a whole host of words which can be used, some of which talk about positive aspects of the personality and others which are more negative. We will take a look at each of these in a little more detail.
Positive & Negative Aspects of Personality Traits
Positive Personality Traits
A positive personality trait talks about something that is good about a person. Let’s take a look at some examples of the words you might use.
- Adventurous – someone who is outgoing and not afraid to try new things.
- Adorable – someone who is sweet.
- Friendly – someone who is easy to get along with and nice.
- Helpful – someone who like to assist others.
- Humble – someone who does not have a big ego.
- Honest – someone who is truthful.
- Charming – someone who is pleasant and draws attention in a positive way.
- Capable – someone who able to achieve things.
- Clever – someone who is smart.
- Imaginative – someone who has a good imagination, you might also call the creative.
- Confident – someone who has confidence.
- Independent – someone who can manage well on their own.
- Cultured – someone who has a lot of cultural experience.
- Keen – someone who is eager.
- Meticulous – someone who pays attention to detail.
- Dependable – someone who you can rely on.
- Encouraging – someone who is full of encouragement.
- Precise – someone who does things to an exact standard.
- Intelligent – someone who is smart.
- Sociable – someone who like to interact with others frequently.
- Trusting – someone who trusts others.
- Trustworthy – someone who can be trusted.
- Vibrant – someone who is outgoing, colourful and loud.
- Fearless – someone who shows no fear, you might also call the brave.
- Loyal – someone who remains supportive to those close to them.
- Patient – someone who shows patience.
- Compassionate – someone who shows understanding to others’ situations.
- Determined – someone who sticks with their decisions.
- Adaptable – someone who can make changes easily.
- Understanding – someone who can understand others easily.
- Empathetic – someone who can understand and ‘feel’ the emotions of others.
All of these words can be used within a sentence to talk about the good traits within a person. Let’s now look at some examples of this.
- My father is a very honest and trustworthy man.
- When I first met Michael, I thought he was patient and I was right.
- My friend Sarah is a very loyal woman.
- The girl who works in the local supermarket is extremely amiable.
- My son is a very intelligent boy.
- Your aunt seems like a friendly person.
- I am patient.
- You are determined.
Negative Personality Traits
Of course, as humans, there are always going to be negative sides to our personalities and there are some great adjectives for describing these too. Let’s take a look at some of them.
- Catty – someone who makes nasty remarks about others.
- Clumsy – someone who is accident prone.
- Childish – someone who behaves in an immature manner.
- Cocky – someone who has an over inflated ego.
- Controlling – someone who like to take control of a situation.
- Impatient – someone who does not display patience.
- Insecure – someone who does not have self security or confidence.
- Jealous – someone who is envious of other people or things.
- Rebellious – someone who goes against the rules.
- Rowdy – someone who is loud and brash, often disruptive.
- Selfish – someone who puts themselves before others.
- Sleazy – someone who is sordid or corrupt.
- Spoiled – someone who is entitled or believes they deserve everything and more than others.]
- Stubborn – someone who will not budge from their opinion even if it is incorrect.
- Dishonest – someone who is not truthful.
- Lazy – someone who does not like to do a lot.
- Evil – someone who is calculating, nasty, bad.
- Cruel – someone who is not nice to others for fun.
- Naggy – someone who repeats themselves in order to get others to do something.
- Unethical – someone who is willing to do anything to get ahead no matter how it might affect others.
- Judgemental – someone who judges others, especially before knowing all the information.
- Pessimistic – someone who sees the worst in everything.
- Fussy – someone who pays too much attention to detail.
- Grumpy – someone who is not friendly and often in a bad mood.
- Gullible – someone who will believe anything that they are told.
- Paranoid – someone who constantly worries that something bad will happen.
Now that we know some useful negative personality traits, let’s take a look at how they might work within a sentence.
- My brother, John used to be very judgemental.
- I don’t like to admit it often, but I am quite a grumpy person.
- My boss is very dishonest and will often be unethical in his decisions.
- I met a man last week who was the most sleazy person I have ever come across.
- My ex girlfriend was a very jealous person.
- My sister was very selfish when we were kids.
- I have a friend who is so clumsy, I have to serve her coffee in a plastic cup.
- My teenage daughter is still very childish.
Learn more with the list of personality adjectives in English with examples and pictures.
In order to successfully talk about yourself, another person or even a fictional character, it is important to be aware of the different personality traits in English. These words can greatly help you in describing a person to someone. They are also excellent for use in your written English, especially if you are writing fictional works and need to give your readers a detailed description of the type of person your character is.
There are positive and negative character traits that can be described and they are used with the verb ‘to be’.
Personality Traits Infographic
Personality Traits Video
Learn useful words to describe personality with American English pronunciation.
Personality Traits | Pictures
Character Traits & Personality Traits Image 1
Character Traits & Personality Traits Image 2
Useful Words to Describe Yourself Image 3
Useful Words to Describe Yourself Image 4