Strong adjectives are the extreme versions of ordinary describing words: not just big but enormous, not just cold but freezing, not just tired but exhausted. This curated collection gathers 102 strong adjectives, every one verified against our 17,163-word adjective list, with example sentences showing the best of them in action. Writers use them when a plain adjective is too weak — and sparing use is exactly what keeps them strong.
The list
absolute almighty amazing appalling astonishing astounding atrocious awful blazing breathtaking brilliant brutal colossal complete dazzling deadly deafening delightful desperate devastating dire disgusting dreadful ecstatic enormous essential everlasting excellent excessive exhausted exhilarating extreme fabulous fantastic fascinating ferocious fierce filthy frightful furious gargantuan gigantic gorgeous hideous horrible huge immense incredible intense jubilant magnificent mammoth marvelous massive mighty miraculous miserable monumental overwhelming perfect phenomenal powerful precious priceless profound radiant raging ravenous roaring scorching sensational severe shattering spectacular splendid starving stunning sublime superb supreme sweltering terrible terrific terrified terrifying thirsty thrilling thunderous tiny torrential total towering tremendous unbearable unbelievable unforgettable utter vast vital volcanic wonderful wretched
Strong Adjectives in sentences
- brilliant — It was a brilliant idea, simple and obvious in hindsight.
- dazzling — A dazzling display of fireworks closed the festival.
- delightful — It was a delightful little café, all plants and sunlight.
- ecstatic — The crowd was ecstatic when the final goal went in.
- enormous — An enormous wave rose behind the boat and broke over the deck.
- exhausted — By the finish line she was utterly exhausted.
- fascinating — It is a fascinating book, impossible to put down.
- furious — She was furious when she saw the dent in her car door.
- gigantic — They built a gigantic snowman in the middle of the square.
- gorgeous — They woke to a gorgeous morning, clear and gold.
Strong adjectives and their ordinary partners
Most strong adjectives pair with a weaker everyday word: big → enormous, small → tiny, cold → freezing, hot → boiling or scorching, tired → exhausted, hungry → starving or ravenous, afraid → terrified, angry → furious, happy → ecstatic, good → wonderful or brilliant, bad → awful or terrible. Because they already carry the force of “very”, strong adjectives are rarely paired with very itself.
Frequently asked questions
How were these intensity adjectives chosen?
By hand, for usefulness: each word had to genuinely describe an extreme degree of a quality and had to appear in our adjective list of 17,163 words drawn from WordNet. The full alphabetical adjective pages linked below hold many more.
Where can I find more adjectives?
Every letter has its own page — start with Adjectives That Start With A and follow the previous/next links, or open the hub for the whole collection.
Keep exploring
- Word Finder & Word Tools — the hub for all our unscramblers, solvers and word lists
- Word Unscrambler — turn any jumble of letters into playable words
- Adjectives That Start With A — the full adjective lists, letter by letter
Pingback: Food Adjectives — Words to Describe Food and Taste - Ilmhunt
Pingback: Adjectives That Start With Z — Full List - Ilmhunt