100 Feeling Words for Speaking and Writing

Here is our top list of feeling words that you can add to your writing. Read our guide.

Words that describe feelings are essential to express your emotions and experiences adequately. There are different approaches to expressing feelings, but using a word or two is the best way to convey these internal emotions. Here is a list of feeling words to use if you have trouble communicating your feelings through words.

What Are Feeling Words?

List of feeling words
Feeling words are easy to apply

These are powerful words in the English language used to express, recognize, and show our internal emotions. Studies show that there are 27 categories of human emotions, and thousands of feeling words correspond to them.

Much like magic words, for writers and storytellers, feeling words are crucial to describing and encouraging readers to relate with characters.

Affectionate Fed-Up Petrified
Agitated Fidgety Petulant
Aglow Fine Pressured
Alarmed Fond Raging
Amused Frisky Resentful
Animated Glad Scared
Anxious Gleeful Seething
Appreciative Gloomy Shaky
Attentive Glum Shocked
Befriended Grieved Spiteful
Blessed Grim Sorrowful
Buoyant Grouchy Sympathetic
Calm Harassed Tearful
Cautious Haunted Tender
Charmed Heated Tense
Cheerful Hopeless Terrified
Cherished Horrified Thoughtful
Considerate Idolizing Touched
Cowardly Ill-Tempered Troubled
Cranky Impatient Trusting
Crestfallen Intimidated Ugly
Crushed Irked Understood
Dejected Jumpy Uneasy
Delighted Kind-hearted Upset
Demoralized Livid Uptight
Devalue Lost Vibrant
Devoted Loved Warm
Disappointed Mad Watchful
Ecstatic Miserable Worship
Elated Nervous Vengeful
Elevated Offended Yielding
Empty Optimistic Zealous
Enraged Outraged  
Euphoric Panicky  

Feeling Words: Happiness

Words that describe the feeling of happiness help communicate someone’s positive evaluation of a moment in their life. It shows a person’s contentment, fulfillment, and satisfaction with themselves, another being, or an event.

  1. Aglow

The bride walks down the aisle to meet her soon-to-be husband; both are aglow with joy and excitement. 

  1. Amused

The overflowing support of the fans during the event amused her.

  1. Animated

The science teacher’s animated speech and demeanor kept boredom away.

  1. Buoyant

I bet Ryan received a love letter from his beau this morning; he is in a buoyant mood.

  1. Calm

Watching the soft waves crash against the shore helped Tracy feel calm.  

  1. Charmed

She has always lived a charmed life but works hard and refuses to leave everything to fate.

  1. Cheerful

Everyone wants to work with him because he’s a cheerful groupmate.

  1. Delighted

The kids were delighted to play in the waterslide. 

  1. Ecstatic

He’s ecstatic to meet the woman he’s been talking to online in real life. 

  1. Elated

Her father was elated to know that he would soon be a grandfather.

  1. Elevated

Jay’s appearance instantly elevated everyone’s mood at the party.

  1. Euphoric

Graduation gives students a euphoric sense of achievement.

  1. Fine

Drake always reminds us that it’s fine to rest sometimes.

  1. Frisky

The zoo’s new baby elephant is a frisky one who likes to entertain the audience.

  1. Glad

Belinda’s glad that she now has a stable job. 

  1. Gleeful

Jia answered his praise with a gleeful laugh. 

  1. Optimistic

Samantha is the most optimistic person I’ve ever met.

  1. Touched

The student’s songs touched their teachers’ hearts.

  1. Vibrant

The apartment looks vibrant after Kate repainted the walls.

  1. Warm

The artist’s fans give him a warm welcome as he steps out of the airport.

Feeling Words: Anger

Anger-feeling words help show strong signs of displeasure, annoyance, or discomfort. These words convey people’s intense response to something they deeply care about. Anger words also allow others to see how someone interprets a situation, including their susceptibility to vulnerability or threat.

  1. Agitated

He was agitated this morning since he was running late for work.

  1. Cranky

She gets cranky when she wakes up early in the morning.

  1. Enraged

The restaurant staff was enraged with how the owner treated them, so they all walked out and refused to return to work.

  1. Grim

The prosecutor shows the crime photos to the jury as a grim reminder of how brutal the suspect can be when angered.  

  1. Grouchy

No one wants to take her in their group because she’s notoriously grouchy.

  1. Heated

The debate started great but ended with a heated argument.

  1. Ill-Tempered

Princess is charming, but because everyone knows she’s ill-tempered, no one wants her to be a leader.

  1. Impatient

I hope the pizza delivery comes soon because the kids are getting impatient.

  1. Irked

The uneven tiles in the bathroom irked me a lot.

  1. Livid

Raven was livid at the person who leaked his private pictures.

  1. Mad

The fans were mad at the concert producers because they increased ticket prices without warning.

  1. Offended

Agatha told me to stop getting offended over small things.

  1. Outraged

The crowd was outraged after the concert was cut short for no reason.

  1. Petulant

My mother told me I was a petulant child when I was younger.

  1. Raging

Laura was raging at her sister for ripping her precious posters.

  1. Resentful

Laura was resentful when she discovered she was the only one who didn’t cheat on the exam.

  1. Seething

My blood is seething for criminals who kill innocent people to satisfy their curiosity.

  1. Spiteful

I hate Enka’s bad habit of making spiteful remarks about someone’s mental health.

  1. Uptight

Our manager is so uptight about reaching our department’s quota.

  1. Vengeful

The vengeful spirits threw Annaliese out the window during her exorcism.

Feeling Words: Caring

We show our concern for friends and loved ones through kind gestures and words. Words indicating care and worry relay thoughtfulness, honesty, and consideration. Caring words also denote camaraderie and a sense of belongingness.

  1. Affectionate

Sunshine is affectionate to children, making her a great kindergarten teacher.

  1. Appreciative

You don’t have to stress over what you’ll get Ana for Christmas. She’s very appreciative of whatever gift she receives. 

  1. Attentive

Professors love to have attentive students in their classes.

  1. Befriended

Lizzy befriended Maddie because they had very similar interests.

  1. Blessed

I was blessed to have a complete family.

  1. Cherished

I’ll only think about the cherished memories we had together.

  1. Considerate

Ken is considerate of the people around him.

  1. Devoted

Mariel is a devoted wife and mother.

  1. Fond

The King is so fond of his daughter that he refuses to acknowledge her mistakes. 

  1. Idolizing

It’s best if the youth starts idolizing people with high morals and good character.

  1. Kind-hearted

Travis is the most kind-hearted office employee I know.

  1. Loved

I’m sure grandmother loved us until her last breath.

  1. Sympathetic

The management reminded us to be more sympathetic toward the customers’ struggles.

  1. Tender

A mother’s tender love is essential to helping a boy grow into a wonderful man.

  1. Thoughtful

The owner of the care facility praised Vina’s thoughtful decision to assist old patients in the gentlest way possible.

  1. Trusting

Mom always reminds me to be careful in trusting people I talk to online.

  1. Understood

He understood her plea and promised to be there for her.

  1. Worship

He loves her too much, so I don’t question if he builds a shrine to worship her. 

  1. Yielding

She nods, yielding to her father’s insistence that they need to take a family vacation.

  1. Zealous

The coach is proud to have a zealous group of athletes under his care. 

Feeling Words: Sorrow

People who go through a difficult situation become distressed or upset. Words relaying the feeling of being sorrowful encompass different but related words that indicate negative feelings, such as hopelessness, melancholy, or regret.

  1. Cowardly

Lala’s cowardly way of running from her problems made her miserable.

  1. Crestfallen

Cris wept at seeing her son crestfallen after losing the competition. 

  1. Crushed

Anne was crushed when she was notified of an allegation of her cheating on the licensure examination.

  1. Dejected

He looked very dejected as he sat in front of the beach, thinking about his problems.

  1. Demoralized

Cecile finds it easy to inspire her demoralized students by speaking to them individually to discuss their problems.

  1. Devalue

They consistently devalue his skills and knowledge, making him lose confidence.

  1. Disappointed

I’m disappointed with how you speak to your mother.

  1. Empty

He’s been battling depression for years; he feels numb and empty.

  1. Fed-Up

Maureen was so fed-up with her classmates that she stormed out of the room.

  1. Gloomy

She feels gloomy when it rains.

  1. Glum

The glum look on her face told me everything I needed to know.

  1. Grieved

She grieved for her lost innocence.

  1. Harassed

She harassed him at work by spreading lies about his past.

  1. Haunted

His memories haunted me daily, so I talked with a therapist.

  1. Hopeless

Carlo is as hopeless as I am in life.

  1. Lost

Their dad’s passing made them feel lost.

  1. Miserable

Cosette told me her life went miserable after losing her only source of income.

  1. Sorrowful

The country mourned the sorrowful day the plane crashed and killed many civilians.

  1. Tearful

The band’s new song that details their struggles makes their fans tearful.

  1. Upset

I get easily upset these days, and I don’t know why.

Feeling Words: Fear

People feel fear as a reaction to something their conscious regards as dangerous. Fear keeps individuals from doing or facing something harmful, whether the threat is real or imagined. Words describing fear convey one’s panic or dread.

  1. Alarmed

Everyone was alarmed by the loud noise signaling that a tornado was coming.

  1. Anxious

I get anxious whenever our teacher draws names for oral recitation.

  1. Cautious

Let’s be cautious about what we say so that we don’t offend anyone.

  1. Fidgety

Tony becomes fidgety as his teacher announces their final grades.

  1. Horrified

I was utterly horrified by the new series glorifying a serial murderer.

  1. Intimidated

Ally said she was intimidated by Ira’s voice during the online training.

  1. Jumpy

Jon gets jumpy when he’s scared or worried.

  1. Nervous

Everyone is nervous as we wait for the operation to finish.

  1. Panicky

As a new employee, Emmie quickly gets panicky when the phone in front of her rings.

  1. Petrified

The new movie “Smile” was so scary that everyone was petrified.

  1. Pressured

Her manager pressured her into accepting his date invitation, so she reported him to HR.

  1. Scared

Anthony became scared of Ariane when she said she saw someone clinging to his back.

  1. Shaky

Clarisse’s voice is shaky, and she can’t calm down before and during the mock call.

  1. Shocked

Everyone was shocked at her sudden outburst during their group’s presentation.

  1. Tense

The room was filled with tense silence. 

  1. Terrified

I admit that I was terrified of my chemistry teacher.

  1. Troubled

The guy sitting in the gutter looked troubled.

  1. Ugly

The stranger’s smile gave her an ugly feeling, so she bolted out of the alleyway.

  1. Uneasy

Her way of speaking and acting makes me uneasy.

  1. Watchful

My brother has always been so watchful of everything I do.

Check our list of random words to upgrade your writing. They’re useful if you want to spice up your prose!

For even more words to use in your writing, check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays.

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Author

  • Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.