#IT SMELLS AND TASTES LIKE THEY EXPIRED SOUR MILK AND USED THAT TO MAKE ICE CREAM
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Ive never been more upset 😭
#im going to get food poisoning istg#WHO OK'D THIS!?!#IT SMELLS AND TASTES LIKE THEY EXPIRED SOUR MILK AND USED THAT TO MAKE ICE CREAM#WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUUCCCCKKKK!?!!? 😭😭😭#I WOULD RATHER CLEAN MY DOGS PUKE
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Matcha Mix Boba and Raisins Milk Tea
23.11.2020 8:05pm
Location: Foody Mart
Price: $3 for 2 (they were doing a promotion for them because the lot were close to expiring. The second time I went, it was down to $0.99 for one. And now that I’ve had it, I understand why)
I had to literally unearth the instructions of how to make it. I know it’s straightforward in theory; just put everything, add hot water, and stir, but mom said maybe the raisins go on top, and she was wrong, which goes to show maybe don’t put your supermarket foreign import promotion sticker on top of the instructions. In the end, I was right, and you just pour everything in with hot water and stir. At first I was tempted to leave the raisins out because I can’t imagine how it’ll mix well, but in the end I put it in for that exact reason. Adventurous drinker, me, even if this blog is literal evidence to the contrary and I end up drinking the same things all the time.
Immediately after opening the matcha packet, a waft of green tea sweetness careened towards me, which was unexpected. Not that the existence of a smell itself is surprising, but how it smelled. It’s so sweet. None of that matcha hint of bitterness, and it makes me think it was processed a lot with, if I had to guess (I’m not reading the ingredients), sugar and milk powder. The tapioca came out in a huge gloop stuck together, which y’know. Figures. And the raisins smelled clearly of raisins. I’m excited to know how it’ll taste in matcha milk tea.
I also immediately broke the straw, I think, upon opening, because if this isn’t broken then it requires some high level reconstructive surgery little baby unskilled Casey is not qualified for. Thankfully, I had a bubble tea straw left over from yesterday’s drinks, and there’s even a green one to match! It’s the little things.
There’s a cold option, an iced option to drink this that is just. Add ice after you stir, but given that I take hours to drink anything anyway (I tend to savour) I think temperature will not be an issue for me. Also I don’t want to dilute it. Yeah. That’s the reason. I’m a tea purist. Oh! And there’s a flap on the side of the cup that reveals a QR code for a prize. But this seems to be a china drink and I’m not in the china right now, so. I don’t know who that guy on the cup is. He looks like every other boy idol.
It smells. I guess pretty good? I get that it’s matcha. But like. Really. Uh. I guess it’s clear it came from something processed? Mixed with the strong scent of dried raisins. I poured a little evaporated milk in it, as a firm believer that most drinks would benefit from a little bit of evap milky.
I’m going to forego the straw for this first sip to just get a sense of the matcha tea itself, and also not to scald my tongue. Oh god, it’s sweet. And for all the green you see, the matcha taste itself is surprisingly lacking. It’s just. Sweet milk with a tinge of residue matcha flavour. Nowhere is the bittersweet, earthy scent of matcha. Maybe it’ll work with the tapioca and raisins? Nope. Not really. It feels less harmonic convergence (ha) and more I plopped some raisins into a drink and sometimes it comes up and I have to bite and chew it and by the time I’m done the drink is gone. It’s not the soft, mochi consistency of tapioca either, which works with bubble tea because it is itself sweet, and chewy, the texture smooth and seamless with tea. This is clearly just two distinct properties refusing to mix. I guess if you like the individual taste of matcha tea and raisin, and want to eat them together without sacrificing either taste or texture of both, this is it? For some reason the tapiocas aren’t coming up the straw, or maybe it is and they just also taste like raisins now. I haven’t been this confused over a drink since I had London Fog for the first time (Side note: mom just yelled at my brother for disturbing her, causing her to lose the fish she was catching on animal crossing new horizons). I’m almost done with the drink at this point and still can’t tell if I had tapiocas yet. Oh! I’ve realised why! The tapiocas are still in one giant conglomerate mass at the bottom of the cup, resisting the hot water’s attempt to separate! That’s not going to go well now that I’ve finished most of the drink! How fun! Okay, I poked at chunks of it with my straw, but it’s being evasive, so I fished out a chunk and just popped it in my mouth. It tastes... bad. Largely plain, with the raisin flavour contaminating it, I think - I hope - making it also a bit sour, and not that it was always sour. Not chewy enough. Reminiscent of wet cardboard. It’s blandly sour, texture very average, overall disappointing mouthfeel and taste. I’m no tapioca expert, but from experience, tapioca is supposed to be sweet, and chewy, and enjoyable. This is sad. I’m sad. One upside though: drinking the tea after that debacle is a whole palette cleanser. The pearls are so defected (ha) it’s making the sub par drink desirable. Maybe next time (I have one left, not me going out during a pandemic to buy another one of these) I’ll skip out on the raisins. Perhaps the plan was that, the sourness of the raisins would heighten the sweetness of the drink? But the drink is so sweet already (it does, however, mellow out at the bottom) it just feels like a clash of titans. Where’s the compromise? Why we gotta fight all the time?
By physically scooping it in my mouth, I managed to taste all three elements at once, as I suspect it’s supposed to be drunk. It’s... not good. Hahahaha
Is this why they offer a prize for drinking this? Consolation?
I’m going to give up on the toppings. I’m not going to try to eat them. I don’t know what’s happening
I’ve been periodically staring into the void processing these flavours. I don’t know what’s happening
I am actively barring the raisins and tapioca from entering the straw. They are banned. No mercy, only justice.
The delicate art of incorporating raisins into drinks well still eludes us. I do not know when the day will come, or if the day will even be welcome. But I do know one thing: when we finally work out how to mix raisins well in bubble tea, humanity will be closer to the stars, if not among them. The enlightenment will be at hand.
Matcha Mix Boba and Raisins Round 2 - Raisin The Bar
25.11.2020 2.07pm
I’m not putting the raisins in this time. Also, after more carefully excavating the straw out of its plastic embalmment, I can now confirm that I had broke it last time by ripping it out too hard and detached the two parts. I think this time the tapioca should be more dissolved.
It is so much better. Uninterrupted sweetness.
Kathy: You can put fruits in milk tea, but I think what’s weird, is that raisins are dehydrated, and now you’re putting them back in liquid
#matcha mix boba and raisins#matcha#matcha milk tea#bubble tea#raisins#tapioca#milk tea#tea#drinks#2020#canada#text#kath#23.11.2020#8:05pm#25.11.2020#2:07pm#foody mart
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from Julia Garza Social Media Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
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·
View notes
Text
583 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory details (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive details that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
Back to Top
The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at the use of sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
Back to Top
Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
The brains of human beings handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
What are Sensory Details?
Sensory details are descriptive words that appeal to the five senses — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of sight words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
Click here to see all 185 sight sensory words
Angular
Azure
Billowy
Black
Bleary
Bloated
Blonde
Blue
Blurred
Blushing
Branching
Bright
Brilliant
Broad
Brown
Brunette
Bulbous
Bulky
Camouflaged
Chubby
Circular
Colorful
Colorless
Colossal
Contoured
Cosmic
Craggy
Crimson
Crinkled
Crooked
Crowded
Crystalline
Curved
Dark
Dazzling
Deep
Dim
Dingy
Disheveled
Distinct
Drab
Dreary
Dull
Dusty
Elegant
Enchanting
Engaging
Enormous
Faded
Fancy
Fat
Filthy
Flashy
Flat
Flickering
Foggy
Forked
Freckled
Fuzzy
Gargantuan
Gaudy
Gigantic
Ginormous
Glamorous
Gleaming
Glimpse
Glistening
Glitter
Glittering
Globular
Gloomy
Glossy
Glowing
Gold
Graceful
Gray
Green
Grotesque
Hazy
Hollow
Homely
Huge
Illuminated
Immense
Indistinct
Ivory
Knotty
Lacy
Lanky
Large
Lavender
Lean
Lithe
Little
Lofty
Long
Low
Malnourished
Maroon
Massive
Miniature
Misshapen
Misty
Motionless
Mottled
Mountainous
Muddy
Murky
Narrow
Obtuse
Olive
Opaque
Orange
Oval
Pale
Peered
Petite
Pink
Portly
Pristine
Prodigious
Purple
Quaint
Radiant
Rectangular
Red
Reddish
Rippling
Rotund
Round
Ruby
Ruddy
Rusty
Sabotaged
Shadowy
Shallow
Shapeless
Sheer
Shimmering
Shiny
Short
Silver
Skinny
Small
Smudged
Soaring
Sparkling
Sparkly
Spherical
Spotless
Spotted
Square
Steep
Stormy
Straight
Strange
Striped
Sunny
Swooping
Tall
Tapering
Tarnished
Teeny-tiny
Tiny
Towering
Translucent
Transparent
Triangular
Turquoise
Twinkling
Twisted
Ugly
Unsightly
Unusual
Vibrant
Vivid
Weird
White
Wide
Wiry
Wispy
Wizened
Wrinkled
Wrinkly
Yellow
2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
Click here to see all 161 sound sensory words
Babble
Bang
Barking
Bawled
Bawling
Bellow
Blare
Blaring
Bleat
Boom
Booming
Bray
Buzz
Buzzing
Cackle
Cackling
Chatter
Chattering
Cheer
Chiming
Chirping
Chuckle
Clamor
Clang
Clanging
Clap
Clapping
Clicking
Clink
Clinking
Cooing
Coughing
Crackle
Crackling
Crashing
Creak
Croaking
Crow
Crunch
Crunching
Crunchy
Cry
Crying
Deafening
Distorted
Dripping
Ear-piercing
Earsplitting
Exploding
Faint
Fizzing
Gagging
Gasping
Giggle
Giggling
Grate
Grating
Growl
Grumble
Grunt
Grunting
Guffaw
Gurgle
Gurgling
Hanging
Hiss
Hissing
Honking
Howl
Hubbub
Hum
Humming
Hush
Jabber
Jangle
Jangling
Laughing
Moaning
Monotonous
Mooing
Muffled
Mumble
Mumbling
Murmur
Mutter
Muttering
Noisy
Peeping
Piercing
Ping
Pinging
Plopping
Pop
Purring
Quacking
Quiet
Rant
Rapping
Rasping
Raucous
Rave
Ringing
Roar
Roaring
Rumble
Rumbling
Rustle
Rustling
Scratching
Scream
Screaming
Screech
Screeching
Serene
Shout
Shouting
Shrieking
Shrill
Sigh
Silent
Sing
Singing
Sizzling
Slam
Slamming
Snap
Snappy
Snoring
Snort
Splashing
Squawking
Squeaky
Stammer
Stomp
Storm
Stuttering
Tearing
Thudding
Thump
Thumping
Thunder
Thundering
Ticking
Tingling
Tinkling
Twitter
Twittering
Wail
Warbling
Wheezing
Whimper
Whimpering
Whine
Whining
Whir
Whisper
Whispering
Whistle
Whooping
Yell
Yelp
3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
Click here to see all 123 touch sensory words
Abrasive
Balmy
Biting
Boiling
Breezy
Bristly
Bubbly
Bubby
Bumpy
Burning
Bushy
Chilled
Chilly
Clammy
Coarse
Cold
Cool
Cottony
Crawly
Creepy
Cuddly
Cushioned
Damp
Dank
Dirty
Downy
Drenched
Dry
Elastic
Feathery
Feverish
Fine
Fleshy
Fluff
Fluffy
Foamy
Fragile
Freezing
Furry
Glassy
Gluey
Gooey
Grainy
Greasy
Gritty
Gushy
Hairy
Heavy
Hot
Humid
Ice-Cold
Icy
Itchy
Knobbed
Leathery
Light
Lightweight
Limp
Lukewarm
Lumpy
Matted
Metallic
Moist
Mushy
Numbing
Oily
Plastic
Pointed
Powdery
Pulpy
Rocky
Rough
Rubbery
Sandy
Scalding
Scorching
Scratchy
Scummy
Serrated
Shaggy
Sharp
Shivering
Shivery
Silky
Slimy
Slippery
Sloppy
Smooth
Smothering
Soapy
Soft
Sopping
Soupy
Splintery
Spongy
Springy
Sputter
Squashy
Squeal
Squishy
Steamy
Steely
Sticky
Stifled
Stifling
Stinging
Stony
Stubby
Tangled
Tapered
Tender
Tepid
Thick
Thin
Thorny
Tickling
Tough
Unsanitary
Velvety
Warm
Waxy
Wet
Woolly
4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
Click here to see all 51 taste sensory words
Acidic
Appetizing
Bitter
Bittersweet
Bland
Buttery
Charred
Contaminated
Creamy
Crispy
Delectable
Delicious
Doughy
Earthy
Fermented
Flavorful
Flavorless
Floury
Garlicky
Gingery
Gritty
Hearty
Juicy
Luscious
Medicinal
Mellow
Melted
Nauseating
Nutritious
Nutty
Palatable
Peppery
Pickled
Piquant
Raw
Refreshing
Rich
Ripe
Salted
Savory
Scrumptious
Stale
Sugary
Syrupy
Tangy
Tart
Tasteless
Unripe
Vinegary
Yummy
Zesty
5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
Click here to see all 47 smell sensory words
Ambrosial
Antiseptic
Aroma
Aromatic
Briny
Citrusy
Decayed
Decomposed
Doggy
Fetid
Floral
Flowery
Foul-smelling
Fragrant
Gamy
Gaseous
Horrid
Inodorous
Malodorous
Mephitic
Musky
Musty
Odiferous
Odor
Odorless
Old
Perfumed
Piney
Polluted
Pungent
Putrid
Rancid
Rank
Redolent
Reeking
Scent
Scented
Sickly
Skunky
Smell
Smoky
Stagnant
Stench
Stinky
Sweaty
Tempting
Whiff
Bonus: Taste and Smell Sensory Words
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
Click here to see all 16 taste & smell sensory words
Acrid
Burnt
Fishy
Fresh
Fruity
Lemony
Minty
Moldy
Mouth-watering
Rotten
Salty
Sour
Spicy
Spoiled
Sweet
Tantalizing
Next, we’ll look at a few real-world examples of sensory details.
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s one of my old author bios:
Kevin J. Duncan is the Editor of Smart Blogger, where he helps writers learn the skills they need to land writing gigs that pay.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive details, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer, Starting from Scratch, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding figurative language to your own writing style a breeze:
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How Descriptive Details Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or creative writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive writing that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 583 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing With Sensory Language
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work (no thesaurus needed!).
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT WORDS SOUND WORDS Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow TOUCH WORDS TASTE WORDS Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Salty/Salted Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly SMELL WORDS TASTE & SMELL WORDS Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting Whiff
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Details?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
The post 583 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
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Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat Jan 19
“We said burr, it’s cold in here and there’s some delicious snacks in the atmosphere! We got our cheer set to celebrate the upcoming New Year and winter season. To help set the mood for the upcoming year, we decided to help spread some happiness with a fun Winter Wonderland themed snack box! Expect to find a lot of fun snacks that will keep a smile on your face as you enjoy the winter wonderland weather that is coming up. Our idea was to find snacks that will keep you feeling happy and warm on the inside no matter if you are cuddling up indoors or are out enjoying the brisk weather!“
Parade Milkshake & Nerunerune DIY
As usual, I will be covering the DIY in a separate post; but for anyone unfamiliar, Nerunerune is one of the most popular and well-loved DIY candy kits one can find online or in Japan. It has come in many variations and has evolved over the years, and in this box we could get one of the most simpler kits they have released, featuring a fluffy whip-like candy fluff with candies.
Our main feature in this pic is the drink, the Parade Milkshake. This drink contains egg and milk, and is meant to emulate an actual milkshake, but with a thin milk consistency. Each can is only 47kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Because it’s been in the fridge, the can has been extremely cold- it’s perfect for summer! The flavor sort of makes me think of winter (and pudding, and McDonalds ice cream)... but at the same time, I think it would have been “too chilly“ to really enjoy during winter. Unless you enjoy being cold, which I do.
It tastes really good, I was kind of surprised because I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before, but lately I haven’t been into pudding due to an “incident“ where I got sick for a week, and I’m not into milk either; but I really liked this. It didn’t bother my “milk sensitivity“ either.
Cotton Candy
This is probably the one item in the box that actually did give me “winter vibes“. You get that too right? But it also fits summer too since you see it a lot during summer at fairs and festivals.
Anyway, we have some kawaii cotton candy as our next item :3 Now, according to the package it did expire back in April, but it seemed fine. This bag of cotton candy is 46kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I LOVE cotton candy~ But I’m pretty partial, I prefer it have some flavor other than just sugar. That and it’s white color just made me feel bored. Another hindrance is that like any other cotton candy, once opened it begins to harden to the point of being inedible- so you need to keep it closed up tight.
Meanwhile, the package is absolutely adorable~
Custard Chocolate Bar & Balanced Nutrition Chocolate Brownie Bar
Anyone whose been a reader of this blog will probably recognize both of these items/brands. But lets remain optimistic :P
Our first item is a Gudetama themed chocolate bar featuring a chocolate and custard flavoring. The bar consists of two tin wafers with layers of chocolate cream between them, a white layer on the top wafer, followed by the custard layer, giving the chocolate. Each bar is 115kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I’ve been pretty tired of these since they always seem to be the same to me, but I didn’t really mind this one very much. It was actually pretty good, but that might have just been because the regular chocolate flavor overwhelmed the entire thing.
Our next item is the Kinosei (health snack) of the month, a chocolate brownie bar from Glico. This nutritional bar is packed with various vitamins and minerals to keep one feeling energized throughout the day.
Each bar is 98kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥
It was okay, nothing too special to me. It did remind me a lot of a brownie, but had an off-putting after taste I wasn’t very fond of. I also can’t guarantee the whole “energizing“ thing works since I ate it in pieces and I finished it now, half-asleep.
Lucky Taiyaki Snack & Giant Chocolate Bar
If you didn’t realize it yet, this box was filled with chocolate. Not necessarily a bad move or anything- but (as much as I dislike it) maybe they should have done white chocolate to fit the season more?
Our next item is a Taiyaki, which again you’ve probably seen on this blog numerous times. For anyone unfamiliar, taiyaki is a fish-shaped cookie or pancake-like dough snack filled with chocolate, fruit, cream, or red beans. These specific snack ones are filled with airy, bubbled chocolate to give it a very light and crispy texture that melts in your mouth.
The brand who made this one is Meito, and each fish is 88kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I love eating these, it’s a 10 out of 10 delicious would recommend snack. It has a light sweetness to it and the chocolate taste lingers in your mouth for a little while after eating.
Our next item is this very impressively size chocolate “puff bar“. It contains peanuts and is coated in both them and chocolate, so it’s not a snack for anyone with peanut allergies- I hate peanuts so I wasn’t too sure how I would feel about it personally.
The entire bar is 162kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥
It’s actually not terrible. I love the crispiness and the chocolate is there, but it has a strong bitterness that I suspect might be peanut, and I can’t say I like it too much- but it’s not bad? But eating a segment of it was enough for me, and I found myself giving it to someone else.
Strawberry Tiramisu Kit Kats & Crunchy Panda Cookies
At this point we are now reaching the last of the chocolate products for this box. First up we have another party pack bag of Panda Cookies :3 I love these, they’re super-cute and they taste good. For anyone who may not recognize these, these are chocolate molded into various panda expressions (70 in total!), with a “panda-esque“ cookie behind the chocolate, giving it a crunchy and sweet taste.
These are by Kabaya and are pretty common to find online. They even have DIY kits (which I did try before, it was pretty fun). The party bag consists of 6 packs, each featured various designs, puzzles, or comics. They also support protecting panda bears from endangerment.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I’d like to say I was biased because I love panda bears, but they do taste really good too. You get crunchiness from the cookie, and the chocolate tastes like both milk and white chocolate. Again I’d recommend these.
Our other item (also a party bag) is the special strawberry tiramisu kit kat. This flavor is special as the #1 voted Want To Try Flavor worldwide to celebrate kit kats 45th anniversary.
Each pack is 64kcal, and features the sweet and sour flavors of a strawberry with a light, smooth coffee mixed in.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
First of all I’d like to say that as “charming“ as its meant to be, I kinda find the art on this pack to be repulsive. I don’t know why, it just looks so weird and goofy to me. I wish they had gone for something more... food-ish, to bring out the appeal of the flavors.
It looks like a white chocolate, but it tastes strongly of strawberries, so I love the flavor. But you just barely get the “smooth coffee“ flavor it describes, so I wouldn’t call it 100% accurate.
Savory Wheat Crackers & Cheese Umaibo
Now, onto the savories; there was surprisingly a handful of them. I say surprisingly because this is the second month in a row where the box had a balance of sweet and savory (not counting the drink or DIY), I really wish they kept this trend up.
Anyway, we have a pack of 2 wheat “crackers“, featuring salt and natural oils from Okinawa to give them a savory salt taste. The “Snack Menu” in the pamphlet says the bunny’s image plays a part in their “winter” theme. But to me the flowers automatically give me summer vibes. Again.
What makes this snack concerning is that for just 2 of these, it’s 405kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥
I’ve never been huge on wheat, but I grew up on it whenever I was at my grandmas so I got used to it. But these don’t even taste like wheat. They’re crunchy and salty, and kind of remind me a bit of a cone.
I like these, but the huge calorie count is a big turn-off. Only because I think for such a high count, you’re better off eating something filling; these aren’t enough to get someone through the day until their next meal, unless they eat really small portions normally.
The next item I won’t be reviewing because I’ve gotten it several times, and have reviewed it several times. I’ll make this short :P I’ve never been a big fan of the cheese umaibo, but I find the more I eat it the better it tastes oddly enough. It didn’t exactly taste like cheese to me when I tried it, but now I can say it actually does.
Salty Seaweed Puffs & Shrimp Sticks
The coloring for these two items actually look very different in person. First will be the Seaweed Puffs, made from salt and rice with a sprinkling of seaweed flakes to blend the flavors together.
Rating: ♥ ♥
The flavor is pretty light, I can’t say the salt taste is stronger than that in the wheat crackers. I was kind of disappointed that the seaweed flavor was really light too. They’re not bad though, the texture is pretty nice, but they are already kind of stale and it makes their appeal even... lesser.
Our other item is the share pack Shrimp Sticks by Calbee. These we’ve gotten before so I don’t think I’ll be rating them again; but I will say that each bag is 31kcal, and because of their small size you get a decent amount of them per-serving. I actually like these because the fishy taste is light, and I enjoy the crispy texture.
Black Pepper Chips
Our final item are these pepper-flavored chips by Koikeya, a popular chip brand known for coming up with some unique flavors. We’ve seen it a few times in Tokyo Treat, but this is a new flavor to grace our presence.
Each bag is 283kcal.
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Seeing these, I was very excited to try them because when I was younger, I loved eating pepper chips (or salt and pepper chips, I don’t remember), and I really like pepper sauce, which the scent of these strongly reminded me of.
While they smell of pepper, they taste strongly of it too :D and instantly kick in the spice as you eat them. Strangely, I get a “jerky“ taste too from these, but I love jerky so I’m not complaining at all. The chips are crunchy and delicious~
♥ Cutie Ranking ♥
Content - 4.5 out of 5. There was only one item I wasn’t very fond of, but I didn’t find it unbearable and could tolerate eating it. The drink was good, I love the DIY kit we got and am excited to make it next. There was some repetition in this box though...
Theme - 2 out of 5. I’m probably giving it pity points honestly, I feel bad in saying this but I can barely see the theme they were going for. A lot of it oddly gave me summer vibes- but it’s entirely possible that I’m feeling it because it is summer now...
Total Rank: 7 out of 10. The items were tasty but there wasn’t too much special about the box because I was used to so much of it already, I also kind of wished they had toned down the chocolate or given us something fruity- besides the DIY. I also failed to see the theme, which I feel a bit disappointed about. I’m really hoping next months box isn’t too chocolate oriented (and again I am a chocolate addict, so that’s really saying something), but considering its the Valentines Day box...
♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥
1. Pepper Chips - they smelled delicious and tasted even better! Extremely would recommend!
2. Strawberry Tiramisu kit kats - It might not contain both flavors described (at least to me) but I LOVE the strong, overwhelming strawberry taste~
3. Cheese Umaibo - Every time I eat this, I end up liking it more than last time. The first time I tried it I didn’t like it at all, and now I kind of enjoy it :P if you’re like me I’d suggest giving it a few tries and see if your opinion changes like mine did.
4. Panda Cookies - As much as I like these... a small part of me is kind of tired of them. Granted it has been some time since I last had them, but...
5. Taiyaki Snack - I love the crispy texture mixed with the melty chocolate~
6. Milkshake Drink - Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect other than some kind of malty drink; but it wasn’t like that at all. It had a really strong vanilla-pudding-ice cream taste
7. Cotton Candy - I really like cotton candy but I’m not into the plain sugar variant. I prefer flavor.
8. Gudetama Bar - Oddly the flavor was pretty good this time, usually I’m not too crazy about these bars. Maybe it’s growing on me.
9. Wheat Crackers - I liked these more than I thought I would, but they were still kind of boring in comparison to everything else.
10. Shrimp Sticks - I’m not huge on seafood (unless it’s sushi) but these are pretty good. As much as I complain about light flavors, I think here it works for the snack.
11. Brownie Bar - It was okay, I didn’t really have too much of an opinion...
12. Seaweed Puffs - I was really disappointed these didn’t have a stronger flavor.
13. Chocolate Puff Bar - It wasn’t bad, but as I said, I’m not big on peanuts and I really didn’t find myself wanting more after a few bites.
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088.
Find the nearest book. Read the second sentence on page 13. honestly the closest thing that’s a book is my kindle and there’s no way i’m gna fuck up my place by going to page 13 for this question lol.
Do you own anything that is made of metal and pink? hmm probably only coz i do own a lot of pink.
Is there laundry in your dryer right now? no dryer.
Would you eat a hissing beetle for $1000? i would probably seriously consider it but not do it lol.
If you had to spend a year studying an animal in the wild, what animal? pandas. (this survey is super long)
What is your all time favorite recipe? i had this amazing recipe for the moistest vanilla cupcakes ever but i lost it. i need to find it. i’d always get compliments.
What’s the first thing you think of when you smell strawberries? nothing really.
What’s the nearest thing to your right that starts with an L? lamp. Are there any bells in your house? the doorbell? lol. there’s also bells on the front door, you’ll always hear it if someone opens it.
What’s your favorite informercial? i hate them.
Ever been to AsSeenOnTv.com? no.
If you could have a shopping spree in any store, what would it be? a department store so i can buy something from every section lol.
Where’s the best place to register for a wedding? a department store lol.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever found on the beach? dead blue jellyfish.
Have you ever kissed anyone within an hour of meeting them? no i haven’t.
Can you watch a birthing video all the way through? i’m not sure, never tried.
What would be your act in a talent show? nothing!!
What channel is on channel 37 on your tv? nothing.
What’s the last thing you wrote? my id number.
Do you have a community mailbox or an individual one? individual. like for my family.
How many keys are on your key ring? only three i think.
What was your first myspace song ever? i forgot.
Besides mama and dada, what was your first real word? haha i have no idea i’d have to ask my parents.
Would you rather be stuck in the desert or in a blizzard? blizzard. i honestly hate the summer heat.
What dessert do you hate? ice cream. like just ice cream. it’s boring.
What candy factory would you love to work at? lindt.
What does an envelope taste like to you? an envelope haha. can’t really compare it to anything else.
What’s your favorite line in your favorite movie? ugh idk lol. i can’t be put on the spot like that coz nothing comes to mind instantly.
Have you ever gone to the bathroom outdoors? yes. i used to go on camping trips a lot as a kid lol.
Would you help a baby cougar w/ the risk of the mama attacking you? no.
What international monument would you like to visit the most? golden gate bridge - again. i never got pictures with it.
Have you decided where you want to get married? nope. around 30 i guess.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten in a sandwich? meh, i’m not very creative. so nothing too strange.
What’s the most exotic thing you’ve eaten? umm idk.
Is there a crime/criminal that intrigues you the most? no.
What Disney character do you think is the cutest? boo from monsters inc has always been cute for me.
Can you name some of the clever names of OPI nail polish? no lol.
Can you sing the entire theme song to any show? yes. the office. it has no words lol.
Did you ever get ‘the talk’ from either one of your parents? nope. my mum asked me as a kid if i knew how babies were made and i said yes and instantly left her room lol.
Do you remember drinking from a bottle? yes.
What’s in the third drawer of your dresser? leggings, tights and warmer clothes.
What do you keep in the little pocket of your purse? gum.
When people ask for ID, which ID do you use? driver’s license.
Who was the first person you knew who’s name started with a P? pj, my first friend in preschool.
What’s the last form you filled out online? this cashback thing from tolls.
How many times have you had to renew/change your driver’s license? i’ve renewed my license maybe five times now. and this month again coz it’s expiring.
Have you ever been given a bouquet of carnations? no.
Do you have an old computer that just sits at the house? yes lol. we should throw it, no one ever uses it.
Do you read the lyrics in the CD sleeve while listening to the song? i used to when i used to buy cd’s. i’d hate it when the sleeve didn’t have lyrics lol.
Name something you made out of play-doh when you were younger. a ball.
What’s your next appointment for? nothing.
When’s the last time you put glitter on something? on the weekend lol. as eyeshadow.
What’s the worst birthday gift you received as a child? clothes. i hated getting clothes. i was all about the toys.
Do you go into the gas station or stay by your car when pumping gas? stay by my car? then go into the gas station when i have to pay? confused by this question.
When’s the last time you sat on Santa’s lap? omg i don’t remember.
What’s your favorite kind of caramel apple? don’t think i’ve ever had one.
Would you rather wrestle crocodiles or anacondas? crocs. i’d hate to think of dying a slow and painful death with an anaconda squeezing you.
Did you sneeze last night? probably.
Do you hold the remote while watching tv or set it down? set it down unless i’m flicking through channels.
Have you ever done farm chores like milk a cow or shave a sheep? no.
When’s the last time you used a coupon? umm last week when i bought my new hair straightener.
Does your mom know what size clothes you wear now? yes.
Is Love written anywhere in the room you’re in? yes.
What’s the nearest sports equipment to you? basketball jerseys.
Have you ever glued your fingers or hands together? yes. i was fumbling around with superglue trying to fix my shoe and my fingers got stuck together for a good few seconds.
Do you think that they should bring the guillotine back? naaah. too messy.
If you could invent anything to make life easier, what would it be? teleportation so i could travel whenever.
Would you like to run in a giant hamster ball for humans? no.
What were that last kind of nuts you ate? normal peanuts.
Do you own any shirts with political or social statements on them? no.
Do you remember what your 2nd grade teacher’s first name was? mrs. la scala.
Have you ever played Twister & had someone’s butt in your face? haha i don’t remember the last time i played twister.
What was the last thing you cheated on? hmmm idk.
When was the last time you used a walkie talkie? geez probably when i was 10.
Where do you usually go camping? i don’t go camping anymore.
Who do you sleep with when you go camping? well with my family.
Ever been afraid to see a ghost in your rearview mirror when driving alone? hahaha plenty of times. especially after those nights with friends where you just start talking about scary shit.
Have you ever dated anyone whose name started with B? no.
If yes, was it a good experience? -
Do you remember what Doug Funnie’s dog’s name was? i forgot he even had a dog.
What is your favorite episode of The Brady Bunch? no idea. i remember watching it as a kid but totally no recollection of any scenes.
Name a line from a Spice Girls song. coz tonight is the night when two become one. man i had no idea as a 5yo that song was about sex.
Have you ever jumped into a pile of leaves? yes.
What does your swimsuit look like? a black one piece.
Do you like it fast or slow? ha, there’s a time for both.
What’s the last holiday candy you consumed? idk lol.
What’s the last thing you bought at a grocery store? smokes.
Have you ever done a backflip on a giant trampoline? no. don’t think i’ve ever tried doing a backflip in my life.
Do you believe that there is only ONE person out there for everybody? not sure, only because there’s the whole ‘the one that got away’ thing.
Do you prefer flowers or chocolate? chocolates.
Do you remember the first time you used a computer? yeah, there’s a photo of me and everything lol. i was playing some game that came from a floppy disk.
Do you remember the first computer game you ever played? some educational game. i forgot what it was called.
Does your Wii character ever look like you? sorta. but not really.
What’s the last sour thing you put in your mouth? my drink.
Do you remember anything from before you were 3? not really hey.
Do you believe in hypnosis? idk if you’d call it that but there’s definitely a way to get people who are willing to be entranced, to be entranced.
Do you reserve pages in the yearbook for certain people? nope?
Ever had a fantasy about a teacher? haha no. there were hot teachers but i never imagined dating them or anything.
What’s the most humiliating outfit your parent made you wear? it was book week at school and we had to dress up as our favourite character from a book and my mum made me the ugliest tinkerbell costume hahaha. it was true to the character, i just looked terrible in it.
Did you ever want to change religions? no.
Is it hard for you to fall asleep when you have had a lot of sugar? no.
What’s your favorite thing to eat with strawberries? nutella.
How do you eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup? i honestly just chomp it.
What would you do for a Klondike bar? nothing.
What’s the funniest bumper sticker you’ve ever seen? -
Ever been up in the mountains? no.
When’s the first time you ever touched snow? i was 5 i think.
What color is your computer desk? that light brown/yellowish wood colour.
Are you baptized? yes.
What did you dream of last night? nothing.
Have you ever eaten an exotic animal? define exotic? the weirdest thing i’ve eaten was turtle. never again.
What do you think is the funniest movie of all time? mean girls and white chicks.
Name a line from that movie? 'yo momma’s so old, she breastfeed like this *blows powder*’ still hilarious.
Would you be surprised if you found out your mom had tattoos? hahaha hell yes.
Would you wear a leather dog collar for free drinks? hahaha. no way.
When was the last time you danced the Macarena? forever ago. i think on a cruise lol.
Can you sing your school’s song? our school song was written and produce the year i graduated, so naturally i don’t remember it since it wasn’t played on repeat throughout my whole school life.
What was your all time favorite subject in elementary school? probably art. it was always really chill.
What’s the last song you sang out loud in the car? idk haha.
Who is the last person you talked to whose name started with a G? ugh, i can’t think lol. gio i guess.
Have you ever bedazzled anything? my phone cover back when it was cool.
Have you ever bought anything off of HSN or QVC? no. Where do you keep your cash? all in my account. i hate carrying cash.
Do you fold laundry while watching tv? no.
When’s the last time you used a protractor? high school lol.
When’s the last time you used a Victoria’s Secret product? the other day.
Can you name the kids from the Cosby Show? nope.
What’s your favorite show on Nick At Nite? never had nickelodeon.
Have you ever made a rubber band ball? no lol. always wanted to.
What zodiac sign do you find to be the most interesting? none. people who truly believe in that shit kill my life. i could read any horoscope and somehow find a way it relates to my life.
Would you ever see a psychic? tempting but no.
When’s the last time you had cotton candy? ages ago.
Where is your younger sibling? in her room.
What’s the last thing you ordered at a Mexican restaurant? tacos.
Do you have an ant problem in the summer? nope.
Do you tan outside or in a booth? outside. but rarely.
Do you still use scrunchies? no.
Have you ever met someone for the 1st time that seemed so familiar? yes. i didn’t officially meet her, but there was this girl at work who looked SO familiar. i spent all shift thinking about it and realized she looks exactly like baby ariel lol.
What’s the most hours you’ve worked in a week? 40.
Do you keep anything in files? yes.
Do you have special ringtones for different people? only my boyfriend.
How do you eat your steak? rare/medium rare.
Is your birthmark shaped like anything? nah, it’s just a small dash.
Can you put on mascara with your mouth closed? yes.
Have you ever worn men’s underwear? no.
Do you own anything that’s fuzzy and purple? nope.
When’s the last time you were kissed on the cheek? on the weekend.
Do you play with pogs? nope.
What wild animal would you like as a pet? a panda that’s tame.
When’s the last time someone hung up on you? idk lol.
Have you eaten an entire pizza by yourself? hmmm. i probably have tbh.
Have you ever fallen out of a tree? nope.
Did you read the Babysitters Club book series? i was obsessed with it as a kid. i’d go to the markets and scope out garage sales just to collect them all.
How about Goosebumps? ^ same.
Ever worn a flower in your hair? yes.
What kind of car did your parents have while you were growing up? suzukis. they don’t have suzukis anymore yet i do lol.
Do you ever wish your birthday was on a different day? nah. i like my birthday.
Do you sunburn easily? i can if i’m not wearing any sunscreen.
Have you read the Twilight series? the first book only and like halfway through the second.
Why couldn’t you go to sleep the last time you were up all night? i was occupied lol.
What breed of dog do you find the most annoying? the small barky ones lol.
What would you name your first born son? haven’t thought that far ahead yet.
Do you cook anything you don’t like eating? no lol. what’s the point!
Do you watch any reality shows on MTV or VH1? no.
Would you have a better chance of surviving in the Sahara or Alaska? alaska. easily.
When’s the last time you pet a cat? omg maybe over a year ago.
Do you remember Eureka’s Castle on Nick JR? nope.
What would you say is Paris Hilton’s occupation? international dj hahahaha.
Are you wearing a necklace? yes.
Do you have any noticeable moles or birthmarks? i have a small mole below my right eye.
Count to ten in another language. ok i just did.
Do you feel uncomfortable telling friends they have boogers in their nose? no. i’d appreciate it if my friends told me if i had any!
What do you remember from sex ed class when you were younger? yes lol. the class thought it was a joke.
What’s the first instrument you ever played? keyboard.
What’s the last thing you wore around your neck? necklace.
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
Back to Top
How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Back to Top
Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Back to Top
Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from Lauren Cameron Updates https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
0 notes
Text
581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
Pin Image
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from Internet Marketing Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
Back to Top
How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Back to Top
Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
0 notes
Text
581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
Pin Image
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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
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Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
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What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Back to Top
Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.
from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/
1 note
·
View note
Text
581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant
It’s almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.
In this post, you’ll learn:
The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);
The definition of sensory words (plus examples);
How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;
500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).
Let’s dive in.
Pin Image
Back to Top
The Colossal Power of Sensory Details
Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?
You can smell the grass on the field.
You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.
And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.
(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)
Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.
The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.
Here’s why:
When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.
That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.
And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)
In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.
And that begs the obvious question…
Back to Top
Why are Sensory Details so Effective?
Short answer:
Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.
In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.
And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.
In other words:
So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.
Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:
Back to Top
What are Sensory Words?
Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Let’s break each one down:
#1. Sight Sensory Words
Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).
Examples of visual words:
Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.
He was a towering presence.
I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.
Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
#2. Sound Sensory Words
Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.
Examples of hearing words:
He had a big, booming voice.
The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.
Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp
#3. Touch Sensory Words
Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.
Examples of touch words:
Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.
With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.
The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.
Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
#4. Taste Sensory Words
Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.
Examples of taste words:
It’s a bittersweet situation.
Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.
The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.
Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty
#5. Smell Sensory Words
Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.
Examples of smell words:
The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.
No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.
The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.
Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
Note on Taste and Smell:
Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.
→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.
Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing
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Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Better question…
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.
Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
Using Sensory Words in Author Bios
I’ll pick on me for this one.
Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:
Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.
Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:
Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.
My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).
Henneke’s is chock full of them.
Her bio is interesting.
Mine is boring.
The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.
Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles
Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.
But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.
Like so:
Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.
Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:
“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.
Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.
Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.
They deserve to be seen.
Using Sensory Words in Introductions
The opening lines of your content are so important.
If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).
If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).
And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.
It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.
Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.
Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.
And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:
Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.
In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.
And it’s highly, highly effective.
Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines
Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.
And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:
Emojis;
Capitalized words;
All lowercase letters;
Two exclamation points;
Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”
You name it, people are trying it.
Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?
Add a sensory word.
Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:
The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.
Here’s one example:
And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.
In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:
Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…
Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:
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How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language
If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”
This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.
You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).
And how do you do that, exactly?
Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:
#1. What Do You See?
It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
#2. What Do You Hear?
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.
#3. How Does it Feel?
Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.
Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?
Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.
The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.
#4. What Does it Taste Like?
Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?
Tell your audience.
Be descriptive.
Make them taste the fishiness.
#5. How Does it Smell?
It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.
And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.
Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.
So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing
Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.
But in the meantime, here’s my list.
Bookmark them.
Print them.
Use them often:
SIGHT
SOUND
Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow
TOUCH
TASTE
Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly
SMELL
TASTE & SMELL
Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting
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Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?
It’s time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:
“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Then let’s do this thing.
About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.
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