English is a language that has words to describe every little thing right from a tiny needle to a big house. There are different descriptive words that are used to describe the words that would be provoking some of the positive feelings. When the words have a good connotation then they will be used to express bright and cherry emotion.
You can also learn some color names before we jump to descriptive words.
Adjective Words to Describe Colors
Use the following list of words to make your descriptive writing more colorful. Writers can add more creativity and uniqueness in their writings by adding these unique colorful words with positive and negative connotations.
Words with Positive Feelings:
| Beaming | Bright | Dappled | Festive |
| Glistening | Glittering | Harmonious | Iridescent |
| Radiant | Vibrant | Prismatic | Vivid |
| Jazzy | Fresh | Delicate | Brilliant |
Words with Negative Feelings:
| Dark | Brash | Cold | Colorless |
| Ashy | Loud | Harsh | Muddy |
| Opaque | Somber | Uneven | Stained |
| Showy | Sooty | Drab | Watery |
Let’s have a look at some of the descriptive words for colors and see how to describe colors in writing:
1. Ablaze – Radiant with bright color
Example: She was so frustrated with the problem that her cheeks were ablaze.
2. Ashy – Having the color of ash; pale
Example: Musty or dusty, ashy or nasty
3. Beaming – Bright; shining
Example: She was shyly paraded forward and introduced by a beaming Fred O’Connor.
4. Bleak – Gloomy; somber; not colorful
Example: The bleak treeless regions of the high Andes
5. Blotchy – Discolored or patchy
Example: Blotchy skin
6. Brash – Abrasive; tacky
Example: A brash newcomer disputed the age-old rules for admission to the club
7. Bold – Bright; vivid
Example: “You are not so bold in person,” he said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
8. Bright – Brilliant in color
Example: “You are not so bold in person,” he said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
9. Brilliant – Vivid; intense
Example: “You are not so bold in person,” he said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
10. Chintzy – Cheap-looking
Example: Like Christmas without the chintzy stuff
11. Cold – Depressing; saddening
Example: He shivered from the cold
12. Colorless – Lacking color; dull
Example: A colorless and unimaginative person
13. Colorful – Full of vivid colors
Example: The chunky blocks of the stone walls were decorated with art done by children, and colorful mats covered the floor.
14. Dark – Lacking in light
Example: He moved off into the darkness
15. Dim – Not bright
Example: The lights dimmed and the curtain rose
16. Discolored – Deprived of color; given the wrong color
Example: Bleaching is most effective with yellow discolored teeth.
17. Drab – A dull, yellowish-brown color
Example: Her drab personality
18. Dappled – Having a spotted surface
Example: While they can tolerate a bit of dappled shade, the more light they get the healthier they’ll be.
19. Deep – Dark; rich
Example: He looked tall and lean in a dark suit.
20. Delicate – Subtle; slight
Example: Alondra was attractive in a delicate way – her features more refined.
21. Electric – Bright; metallic
Example: Moonlight and darkness alike bent and danced around him, surrounding him in a hazy metallic shimmer.
22. Festive – Celebratory; merry
Example: Pilgrimages to Mecca were not tied to a single time, but they were naturally associated with festive occasions, and especially with the great annual feast and market.
23. Fiery – Burning or glowing like fire
Example: The last thing Denton needed was a fiery redhead with a tendency to speak her mind.
24. Flamboyant – Extravagant; exuberant
Example: The normally flamboyant pair surprised some pundits by wearing traditional black morning suits.
25. Flaming – Resembling a flame or fire
Example: As the sun rises, they pass a little beyond the halo and exhibit flaming tails.
26. Glistening – Sparkling or shining like glitter
Example: Externally, the body of a Sipunculoid presents no projections: its surface is as a rule even and often glistening, and the color varies from whitish through yellow to dark brown.
27. Glittering – Shining; sparkling
Example: She blinked out of the spell and saw Romas’s oldest brother, his eyes glittering with anger.
28. Harsh – Disagreeable; unpleasant
Example: Wild and harsh country full of hot sand and cactus”
29. Iridescent – Something with rainbow-like colors
Example: She turned and raised an eyebrow at him, her rainbow eyes flashing with every color between white and black.
30. Jazzy – Lively; bright
Example: White meat, which holds its shape and has a jazzy color and smooth texture, is wonderful for salads, clear soups and pasta dishes.
31. Loud – Overly intense
Example: Loud sport shirts
32. Muddy – Not clear
Example: Muddy colors
33. Opaque – Incapable of allowing light to pass through
Example: A shadow occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it
34. Opalescent – Having a milky iridescence like an opal
Example: The first time I used a water-based sealer that turned opalescent after 3 months.
35. Prismatic – Multi-colored; brilliant; bright
Example: The prismatic and vivid lines of the work of Avi Ben-Simhon evoke a feeling of joy and happiness.
36. Radiant – Glowing; bright
Example: The color is a radiant, bright light-scarlet and the aromas are filled with bittersweet cherries and strawberries.
37. Sepia – A reddish/brown color, like old photographs
Example: Davidson’s current collection of bracelets, chokers, and belts are made of black or sepia strips of leather varying in width.
38. Saturated – Overfly full
Example: A shirt saturated with perspiration
39. Showy – Gaudy; too flashy
Example: A cheap showy colored bracelet
40. Sickly – Having a pallor that reflects being nauseated
Example: A sickly child
41. Somber – Dark; gloomy; dull
Example: A suit of somber black
42. Sooty – Black or dusky in color
Example: To sooty blackness from the purest white
43. Splashy – Attracting too much attention
Example: Splashy half-page ad
44. Stained – An unwanted spot
Example: A badly stained tablecloth
45. Transparent – Clear; see-through
Example: Transparent cristal
46. Uneven – Not smooth; irregular
Example: An uneven color
47. Vibrant – Full of color
Example: He opened the door to see a woman, or young woman at least, with mouse brown hair and vibrant green eyes standing before him.
48. Vivid – Bright, intense colors
Example: The various dishes ran together on the plates to create a series of vivid technicolor horrors.
49. Washed-out – Lacking color; faded
Example: A very pale washed-out blue
50. Watery – Containing too much water; diluted
Example: A watery grave
Words for Colors of Rainbow
Rainbows are formed when light shines through water, like when the sun shines through the rain. This light is bent and reflected, like a reflection in a mirror, and this causes all of the amazing colors that you see.
| Word | Meaning |
| Lunar | relating to or associated with the moon |
| Bright | having striking color |
| Veritable | Photographs taken in a veritable bull ring |
| Sudden | happening without warning or in a short space of time |
| Splendid | attended with brilliance or grandeur |
| Mimic | constituting an imitation |
| Faint | barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc |
| Brilliant | of surpassing excellence |
| Broken | topographically very uneven |
| White | glowing white with heat |
| Walking | someone is walking too close |
| Vivid | having the highest saturation |
| Varying | marked by diversity or difference |
| Unseen | not seen or perceived |
| Transient | a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load |
| Striped | marked or decorated with stripes |
| Splendor | a quality that outshines the usual |
| Perfect | being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish |
| Perpetual | occurring so frequently as to seem ceaseless or uninterrupted |
| Ordinary | not exceptional in any way especially in quality |
| Natural | in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature |
| Miraculous | peculiarly fortunate or appropriate; as if by divine intervention |
| Magic | any art that invokes supernatural powers |
| Luminous | softly bright or radiant |
| Lovely | appealing to the emotions as well as the eye |
Have a good look at each of the word mentioned above and learn how they are used in a sentence with the given examples.
Quick Links