100 Common Adjectives With Meanings And Examples

Last updated on October 17th, 2026 at 08:07 pm

A kind teacher. A small house. A happy child. The words in italics are adjectives. They tell us more about a person or a thing.

An adjective is a describing word. We use adjectives all the time, to say what people, places and things are like. A good list of adjectives is the fastest way to build your vocabulary.

This lesson gives 100 common adjectives with meanings, opposites and example sentences. It also has exercises, a quiz and a FAQ.

Quick answer

An adjective describes a noun. It tells us what a person, place or thing is like.

Example: She has a new bag.

Two places: before a noun (a new bag) and after be (The bag is new.)

What you will learn

What an adjective is and where it goes in a sentence
100 common adjectives in five groups
The meaning, the opposite and an example for each adjective
How to avoid common mistakes, with exercises and a quiz

What Is an Adjective?

An adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. It answers questions such as What kind? and How big?

We put an adjective in two places. It can come before a noun, or after a verb such as be, look or feel.

Place	Example
Before a noun	I have a red car.
After be	The car is red.
After look or feel	She looks happy.

An adjective does not change for singular or plural. We say a tall boy and two tall boys.

100 Common Adjectives with Meanings

The adjectives are in five groups. Each row shows the meaning, an opposite and a short example.

Adjectives for People

No.	Adjective	Meaning	Opposite	Example
1	Kind	Nice to other people	Unkind	She is kind to everyone.
2	Brave	Not afraid of danger	Cowardly	The brave man saved the boy.
3	Honest	Always telling the truth	Dishonest	He is an honest shopkeeper.
4	Polite	Having good manners	Rude	The polite girl said thank you.
5	Friendly	Open and nice to others	Unfriendly	Our neighbours are friendly.
6	Clever	Quick to learn	Foolish	My sister is a clever student.
7	Lazy	Not wanting to work	Hardworking	The lazy boy sleeps all day.
8	Generous	Happy to give to others	Selfish	He is generous with his time.
9	Shy	Nervous with new people	Confident	The shy girl sat alone.
10	Calm	Quiet and not worried	Nervous	Stay calm and listen to me.
11	Patient	Able to wait without anger	Impatient	A good teacher is patient.
12	Funny	Making you laugh	Serious	My uncle tells funny stories.
13	Loyal	Always on your side	Disloyal	A dog is a loyal friend.
14	Gentle	Soft and careful	Rough	Be gentle with the baby.
15	Careful	Taking care to avoid errors	Careless	Be careful on the stairs.
16	Strong	Having a lot of power	Weak	The strong man lifted the box.
17	Helpful	Giving help	Unhelpful	The helpful clerk found my bag.
18	Cheerful	Happy and full of life	Gloomy	She is always cheerful.
19	Wise	Knowing what is right	Silly	My grandfather is a wise man.
20	Curious	Wanting to know more	Uninterested	Children are curious by nature.

Adjectives for Feelings and Health

No.	Adjective	Meaning	Opposite	Example
21	Happy	Feeling joy	Sad	I am happy today.
22	Angry	Feeling strong dislike	Pleased	He was angry about the noise.
23	Afraid	Feeling fear	Fearless	The child is afraid of dogs.
24	Excited	Full of joy about something	Bored	We are excited about the trip.
25	Tired	Needing rest	Energetic	I am tired after work.
26	Hungry	Needing food	Full	The kids are hungry.
27	Worried	Thinking about problems	Relaxed	She is worried about the exam.
28	Proud	Happy about what you did	Ashamed	He is proud of his son.
29	Comfortable	Feeling at ease	Uncomfortable	This chair is comfortable.
30	Satisfied	Happy with what you have	Unsatisfied	The customer was satisfied.
31	Jealous	Unhappy about what others have	Content	He is jealous of his brother.
32	Grateful	Thankful	Ungrateful	I am grateful for your help.
33	Hopeful	Thinking good things will come	Hopeless	We are hopeful about the result.
34	Confused	Not able to understand	Certain	I am confused by this map.
35	Glad	Pleased	Sorry	I am glad to see you.
36	Healthy	Not ill	Ill	Fruit keeps you healthy.
37	Sleepy	Ready to sleep	Awake	The baby is sleepy.
38	Surprised	Shocked by something new	Unsurprised	She was surprised by the gift.
39	Lucky	Having good chances	Unlucky	You are lucky to be here.
40	Busy	Having a lot to do	Free	My mother is busy today.

Adjectives for Size and Appearance

No.	Adjective	Meaning	Opposite	Example
41	Big	Large in size	Small	They live in a big house.
42	Tall	High from bottom to top	Short	My brother is very tall.
43	Long	Having great length	Short	The river is long.
44	Heavy	Weighing a lot	Light	This bag is heavy.
45	Thin	Not thick	Thick	I need a thin blanket.
46	Wide	Large from side to side	Narrow	The road is wide.
47	Deep	Going far down	Shallow	The lake is deep.
48	High	Far above the ground	Low	The tower is very high.
49	Huge	Very big	Tiny	The elephant is huge.
50	Young	Not old	Old	The young girl plays outside.
51	Beautiful	Very nice to look at	Ugly	The garden is beautiful.
52	Clean	Free from dirt	Dirty	My room is clean.
53	Neat	Tidy and in order	Messy	His desk is always neat.
54	Bright	Giving a lot of light	Dark	The sun is bright today.
55	Smooth	Flat with no bumps	Rough	The table feels smooth.
56	Soft	Not hard	Hard	The bed is soft.
57	Shiny	Reflecting light	Dull	She wore shiny shoes.
58	Flat	Level and even	Curved	The land is flat here.
59	Straight	With no bend	Crooked	Draw a straight line.
60	Pretty	Pleasing to see	Plain	She wore a pretty dress.

Adjectives for Things and Places

No.	Adjective	Meaning	Opposite	Example
61	New	Made not long ago	Old	I bought a new phone.
62	Modern	Of the present time	Ancient	They live in a modern flat.
63	Cheap	Costing little money	Expensive	The bus ticket is cheap.
64	Empty	With nothing inside	Crowded	The room is empty.
65	Quiet	Making little noise	Noisy	The library is quiet.
66	Safe	Free from danger	Dangerous	This road is safe.
67	Hot	Having a high heat	Cold	The tea is hot.
68	Warm	A little hot	Cool	The water is warm.
69	Wet	Covered with water	Dry	The grass is wet.
70	Sweet	Tasting like sugar	Bitter	This mango is sweet.
71	Fresh	New and not old	Stale	The bread is fresh.
72	Delicious	Tasting very good	Awful	The cake is delicious.
73	Rich	Having a lot of money	Poor	The rich man owns a hotel.
74	Public	Open to everyone	Private	We met in a public park.
75	Open	Not closed	Closed	The shop is open.
76	Local	From the same area	Foreign	I buy local fruit.
77	Real	Not fake	Fake	This is a real diamond.
78	Free	Costing no money	Paid	The museum is free.
79	Sharp	Able to cut well	Blunt	Be careful with the sharp knife.
80	Popular	Liked by many people	Unknown	It is a popular game.

Adjectives for Opinions and Quality

No.	Adjective	Meaning	Opposite	Example
81	Good	Of high quality	Bad	It was a good film.
82	Great	Very good	Terrible	We had a great holiday.
83	Important	Needing attention	Unimportant	Sleep is important.
84	Easy	Not hard to do	Difficult	The test was easy.
85	Simple	Not complicated	Complicated	Here is a simple plan.
86	Interesting	Making you want to know more	Boring	This book is interesting.
87	Useful	Helpful for a job	Useless	A map is useful on a trip.
88	Possible	Able to happen	Impossible	It is possible to learn quickly.
89	True	Agreeing with the facts	False	The story is true.
90	Right	Correct	Wrong	You gave the right answer.
91	Necessary	Needed	Unnecessary	Water is necessary for life.
92	Famous	Known by many people	Obscure	He is a famous singer.
93	Special	Different and better	Ordinary	Today is a special day.
94	Perfect	With no mistakes	Imperfect	Her English is perfect.
95	Correct	Without errors	Incorrect	Is this answer correct?
96	Normal	Usual	Strange	It was a normal day.
97	Common	Seen often	Rare	Rice is a common food.
98	Fair	Treating all people the same	Unfair	The judge is fair.
99	Excellent	Extremely good	Poor	She wrote an excellent essay.
100	Different	Not the same	Same	We have different ideas.

Opposites at a Glance

Many adjectives come in pairs. You can learn two words at once if you learn the opposite as well.

Adjective	Opposite	How to make the opposite
Kind	Unkind	Add un-
Possible	Impossible	Add im- before p
Honest	Dishonest	Add dis-
Necessary	Unnecessary	Add un-
Big	Small	A different word
Hot	Cold	A different word

✋ Quick check: Find the opposite. “The soup is hot.”

Check your answer

Cold. Hot and cold are a pair of opposites with different words.

Teacher’s Tip 1

Learn adjectives in pairs, such as hot and cold. Say the pair aloud and write one sentence with each word. Your brain remembers pairs better than single words.

Common Mistakes

Common mistake	Better sentence	Why
She is a girl beautiful.	She is a beautiful girl.	The adjective comes before the noun.
I have two reds cars.	I have two red cars.	Adjectives do not take -s.
I am boring in class.	I am bored in class.	Use -ed for how you feel.
The film is bored.	The film is boring.	Use -ing for what causes the feeling.
He is more taller than me.	He is taller than me.	Do not use more with a short adjective.

Teacher’s Tip 2

Check the ending when a verb becomes an adjective. Use -ed for a feeling, such as excited. Use -ing for the thing that causes the feeling, such as exciting.

Practice: Exercises on Adjectives

Exercise 1: Find the Adjective

Write the adjective in each sentence.

The soup is hot.
She wore a pretty dress.
My brother is very tall.
We live in a quiet town.
The test was easy.

Show answers for Exercise 1

Hot
Pretty
Tall
Quiet
Easy

Exercise 2: Write the Opposite

Write the opposite of each adjective.

Big
Kind
Clean
Rich
Noisy

Show answers for Exercise 2

Small (a different word)
Unkind (add un-)
Dirty (a different word)
Poor (a different word)
Quiet (a different word)

Exercise 3: Correct the Mistake

Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correct sentence.

She is a girl beautiful.
I have three reds pens.
The story is bored.
He is more taller than me.
They are very tireds.

Show answers for Exercise 3

She is a beautiful girl.
I have three red pens.
The story is boring.
He is taller than me.
They are very tired.

Quiz: Test Yourself

10 questions. Choose one answer for each. Sign up free to earn XP and save your score.

What does an adjective do?
Which word is an adjective?
Which sentence is correct?
What is the opposite of kind?
What is the opposite of hot?
Which sentence is correct?
Which adjective describes size?
Which adjective describes a feeling?
Which word can go after the verb be?
Which sentence is correct?

Key Takeaways

Remember

An adjective describes a noun.
It goes before a noun or after be.
It does not take -s in the plural.
Learn adjectives in pairs of opposites.
Use -ed for a feeling and -ing for the cause.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It tells us what a person, place or thing is like. For example: a new bag, a tall boy.

Where does an adjective go in a sentence?

An adjective goes before a noun, as in a red car. It also goes after be, look or feel, as in The car is red.

Do adjectives have a plural form?

No. Adjectives do not change for singular or plural. We say a tall boy and two tall boys.

What are the most common adjectives?

Some of the most common adjectives are good, new, big, small, happy, easy, important and different. You can find 100 of them with meanings in the lists above.

How can I make the opposite of an adjective?

Some adjectives take a prefix, such as un- in unkind, im- in impossible and dis- in dishonest. Others have a different word, such as big and small.

What is the difference between bored and boring?

Use bored for how a person feels: I am bored. Use boring for what causes the feeling: The film is boring.

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Author
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Azizul Hakim

Founder and CEO at English Finders

Azizul Hakim is the founder & CEO at English Finders. He is a passionate writer, English instructor, and content creator. He holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. With more than a decade of experience, he aims to make English learning simple, engaging, and accessible for everyone.

100 Common Adjectives with Meanings and Examples