Expand Your List of Emotions:
You'll Feel Better!
Change how you feel by adding new words to your list of emotions
Most of us have a limited number of words we would put on a list of emotions when we look for ways to describe our feelings or the feelings of others.
Our emotions tend to be either-or. We are either up or down, happy or sad, angry or peaceful. We don’t use too many words to identify feelings that might lie somewhere between the two extremes.
Language influences feelings
Yet the word or words you use to identify your emotions actually have an effect on how you feel, how you behave, and what kind of life you create for yourself. You feel differently when you tell yourself you are depressed than you do when you say you feel disappointed.
And when you believe you are depressed, you tend to behave like a depressed person. You spend more time by yourself. You sleep more. You think more negative thoughts than positive ones. You let your personal appearance slide. You lose your appetite for foods you normally enjoy. And you have little or no desire to move out of feeling depressed.
You don’t behave this way when you say you feel disappointed. You don’t allow the feeling of disappointment to completely take over your life. You don’t lose your appetite for your favorite foods or stop looking after your personal appearance. You stay in contact with friends and engage in activities you enjoy. You keep your feelings of disappointment in perspective and you move on.
This is why knowing how to skillfully use words and the power of language to create a better life for yourself is important, especially when events slam into your life that you didn’t expect.
Only some of the words below identify a distinct human emotion. Most of them refer to different levels of intensity of feeling. For example, “furious” and “annoyed” are words that point to different degrees of “anger,” an emotion most people would agree is experienced by all human beings at some time.
Others refer to “states” we sometimes claim to be in. We say we are in a state of "confusion" or of "panic" or of "consternation."
List of Emotions
The list below is not a list of basic emotions. However, it does include many of them as well as hundreds of common words we use to refer to how we are feeling.
| Afraid | Amazed | Anger | Angry | Annoyed |
| Anxious | Ashamed | Astonished | Bewildered | Curious |
| Dejected | Delighted | Disgusted | Down | Estatic |
| Elated | Embarrassed | Enamored | Enraged | Fascinated |
| Furious | Happy | Hate | Humiliated | Incredulous |
| Indecisive | Irritated | Joyful | Love | Low |
| Nervous | Overjoyed | Panicky | Peeved | Pleased |
| Sad | Scared | Shame | Shocked | Sorrow |
| Stunned | Surpised |
It could be argued that words such as “pleased” or “humiliated” are not human emotions at all. However, sometimes we say we felt “pleased” with our effort or “humiliated” because of the way an event turned out, so those words and many others that describe how we feel at times are included on the list.
Here are more often used words to add to the list of emotions.
| Accepted....... | Acknowledged... | Adored......... | Adoring........ | Affronted...... |
| Aggravated | Aggressive | Aggrieved | Aghast | Agitated |
| Alarmed | Alert | Alive | Aloof | Ambitious |
| Angry | Anguished | Anxiety | Apathetic | Apologetic |
| Appalled | Appreciative | Apprehensive | Aroused | Arrogant |
| Assertive | Attached | Attacked | Attractive | Awful |
| Baffled | Balanced | Bashful | Beat | Beautiful |
| Befuddled | Beleaguered | Bemused | Betrayed | Bewitched |
| Bitter | Blissed out | Blue | Bored | Breezy |
| Bubbly | Buoyant | Burdened | Bushed | Calm |
| Capable | Captivated | Cared for | Carefree | Caring |
| Cautious | Celebratory | Centered | Charmed | Cheated |
| Cheerful | Cheesed (off) | Cherished | Childish | Childlike |
| Clever | Cold | Comfortable | Communicative | Compassionate |
| Compelled | Competent | Conceited | Concerned | Condemned |
| Confident | Confrontational | Confronted | Confused | Connected |
| Consumed | Contemplative | Contemptuous | Contented | Contrary |
| Controlling | Crabby | Cranky | Crappy | Creative |
| Creeped out | Creepy | Critical | Cross | Crushed |
| Cunning | Cynical | Daring | Dazed | Defeated |
| Defensive | Degraded | Delirious | Dependable | Depressed |
| Desirable | Desired | Desirous | Desolate | Despairing |
| Desperate | Despondent | Detached | Determined | Devastated |
| Disappointed | Disengaged | Disgrunteled | Disjointed | Dismayed |
| Dismissive | Disrespected | Distant | Distraught | Distressed |
| Disturbed | Dominated | Drained | Dynamic | Eager |
| Edgy | Effective | Elated | Electric | Eloquent |
| Emboldened | Empathic | Empowered | Energetic | Energized |
| Enervated | Engaged | Enlightened | Enlivened | Enthusiastic |
| Envious | Euphoric | Exasperated | Excited | Eshausted |
| Exhilarated | Expectant | Expressive | Exuberant | Fantastic |
| Fearful | Fearless | Feeble | Feverish | Flat |
| Flippant | Flirtatious | Flustered | Foolish | Forceful |
| Forgiving | Frantic | Fretful | Fried | Frightened |
| Frosty | Frustrated | Fuming | Funny | Furtive |
| Generous | Giving | Glad | Glum | Good |
| Grateful | Great | Greedy | Gregarious | Grief-stricken |
| Gruff | Grumpy | Guilty | Heartless | Helpful |
| Helpless | High | Hopeful | Hopeless | Horny |
| Horrible | Horrified | Hostile | Humble | Hurt |
| Hysterical | Icy | Ignored | Impatient | Impotent |
| Incapable | Incensed | Included | Incompetent | Indifferent |
| Indignant | Inept | Infatuated | Infuriated | Inquisitive |
| Insatiable | Insecure | Insulted | Intense | Intimidated |
| Intrigued | Irascible | Irate | Irked | irrelevant |
| Irreverent | Irritable | Isolated | Jealous | Jovial |
| joyous | jubilant | judgmental | Jumpy | Kind |
| Languid | Lazy | Left-out | Lethargic | Light-headed |
| Listless | Livid | Lonely | Lost | Loving |
| Lustful | Mad | Manic | Maudlin | Mean |
| Melancholy | Miserable | Mixed-up | Morbid | Morose |
| Mortified | Muddled | Nasty | Negative | Nostalgic |
| Numb | Obsessive | Offended | Okay | On-edge |
| Open | Optimistic | Outraged | Overlooked | Overwhelmed |
| Overwrought | Paranoid | Passionate | Passive | Peaceful |
| Pensive | Perplexed | Persecuted | Perturbed | Pessimistic |
| Petulant | Philosophical | Phony | Picky | Pissed |
| Pooped | Positive | Powerful | Powerless | Pressured |
| Pretentious | Prophetic | Protective | Proud | Pumped |
| Pushy | Put-down | Put-out | Rage | Rambunctious |
| Raped | Recognized | Reflective | Rejected | Relaxed |
| Relevant | Relieved | Remorseful | Resentful | Reserved |
| Resigned | Resilient | Resistant | Reticent | Reverent |
| Romantic | Ruthless | Sarcastic | Sated | Satisfied |
| Savage | Scornful | Seething | Self-pitying | Sensitive |
| Sensual | Sentimental | Serene | Servile | Sexy |
| Shaken | Shifty | Shook-up | Short-tempered | Shut-out |
| Shy | Sincere | Skeptical | Slighted | Sly |
| Sociable | Solemn | Sorrowful | Soulful | Spent |
| Spirited | Spiteful | Still | Strong | Stubborn |
| Stupid | Sturdy | Stymied | Subdued | Submissive |
| Sunny | Superior | Suspicious | Sweet | Sympathetic |
| Tapped-out | Tempermental | Tense | Terrible | Thrilled |
| Tickled | Timid | Tired | Tolerable | Touchy |
| Trapped | Troubled | Trusted | Trusting | Twitchy |
| Unappreciated | Unclear | Undecided | Underwhelmed | Unqualified |
| Unsociable | Unsure | Up-beat | Up | Upset |
| Uptight | Vague | Vengeful | Vicious | Violated |
| Violent | Vulnerable | Warm | Wary | Washed-up |
| Weak | Weary | Weepy | Weird | Whipped |
| Wistful | Wonderful | Worried | Wrathful | Zealous |
| Zip | Zoonked |
How about your vocabulary? How broad is your list of emotions? You may want to expand it to help you pinpoint your feelings and to speak about them accurately.
