A word for someone who... 20 descriptions and the words that fit
Someone who never gives up is persistent or tenacious. Someone who talks a lot is talkative, or garrulous if it gets tiring. Someone who thinks they are always right is self-righteous, dogmatic or, informally, a know-it-all. Many of these words carry a judgement, so check what each one adds before you use it.
For each description below, the first word is the safest choice. The later ones are more precise and more pointed.
Compliments
| Someone who... | Words | What each adds |
|---|---|---|
| never gives up | persistent, tenacious, resilient | Persistent keeps trying. Tenacious holds on hard, even against resistance. Resilient is different: it means recovering after a setback. |
| takes initiative | proactive, a self-starter, enterprising | Proactive acts before being asked. Enterprising spots new opportunities, often in business. |
| gets things done | effective, efficient, a doer | Effective gets the result. Efficient gets it without wasting time or effort. A doer prefers action to talk. |
| notices small details | observant, perceptive, meticulous | Observant notices things. Perceptive also understands them, such as how someone feels. Meticulous describes careful work rather than noticing. See careful vs meticulous. |
| speaks well | articulate, eloquent | Articulate is clear. Eloquent is moving or persuasive, with a sense of style. |
| loves to learn | curious, inquisitive, an autodidact | Inquisitive asks lots of questions, and can mean nosy. An autodidact teaches themselves without formal lessons. |
| makes friends easily | sociable, gregarious, personable | Gregarious loves being in company. Personable is pleasant and easy to like, especially on first meeting. |
| puts others first | selfless, considerate, altruistic | Considerate thinks of other people’s needs. Altruistic helps others even at a cost to themselves, and sounds formal. |
| forgives easily | forgiving, magnanimous | Magnanimous is generous towards a rival or someone who has wronged them, often from a position of strength. |
| avoids conflict | non-confrontational, conflict-averse, a peacemaker | The first two avoid arguments. A peacemaker steps in to settle other people’s. |
Criticisms
| Someone who... | Words | What each adds |
|---|---|---|
| talks a lot | talkative, chatty, garrulous, loquacious | Talkative is neutral and chatty is friendly. Garrulous talks too much, often about small things. Loquacious is a formal word for talkative. |
| thinks they are always right | self-righteous, dogmatic, a know-it-all | Self-righteous feels morally better than others. Dogmatic will not consider evidence against their views. Know-it-all is informal and dismissive. |
| thinks they are superior | arrogant, condescending, supercilious | Condescending talks down to people. Supercilious shows superiority in their manner, such as a raised eyebrow. |
| lies all the time | dishonest, a habitual liar, mendacious | Mendacious is formal and strong. Calling someone a liar is direct; dishonest is easier to say to their face. |
| doesn’t care | indifferent, apathetic, callous | Indifferent has no interest in this thing. Apathetic has little interest or energy for anything. Callous does not care about other people’s suffering, which is much harsher. |
| complains a lot | a complainer, a moaner, querulous | Moaner is informal British English. Querulous is a formal word for complaining in a whining way. |
| holds grudges | resentful, unforgiving, vindictive | Resentful still feels the hurt. Vindictive wants to get even, which is much stronger. |
| only cares about themselves | selfish, self-centred, egotistical | Self-centred thinks mainly about themselves. Egotistical thinks too highly of themselves and lets you know it. |
| is easily influenced | impressionable, suggestible, gullible | Impressionable is often used of young people. Gullible believes almost anything they are told. |
| always disagrees | argumentative, contrarian | Argumentative likes to argue. A contrarian takes the opposite view on purpose, sometimes usefully. |
Play: name the person
Five people described in a sentence. Pick the word that fits best, then see why the others miss.
Name the person
1 / 5Ten rejections later, she was still sending her novel out. She is ____.
Check the answer
Tenacious. It means holding on with determination, and here it is a compliment. Stubborn suggests refusing to change when you probably should, and impulsive means acting without thinking.
Ask him the time and you get a twenty-minute story about his watch. He’s ____.
Check the answer
Garrulous. It means talking too much, often about small things. Gregarious means loving company, and articulate means expressing ideas clearly, not at length.
She treats her opinions as facts and won’t look at any evidence against them. She’s ____.
Check the answer
Dogmatic. A sceptical person is the opposite: slow to believe until convinced. A contrarian takes the opposite view on purpose.
He spots the new haircut, the moved chair and the missing biscuit before anyone else. He’s ____.
Check the answer
Observant. It means quick to notice things. Meticulous describes careful work, and suspicious suggests distrust, which nothing here shows.
She’ll believe almost any story you tell her with a straight face. She’s ____.
Check the answer
Gullible. It means easily tricked into believing things. Naive means lacking experience, and impressionable means easily influenced in your opinions or behaviour, often used of young people.
Your score
Describe the behaviour when it matters
Words such as narcissistic, psychopathic or obsessive are clinical terms as well as everyday insults. In a review, a complaint or a hard conversation, describing what happened is usually fairer and harder to dismiss. “He interrupted me three times in the meeting” gives the other person something specific to respond to. “He’s so arrogant” gives them a label to dispute instead.
Practise choosing the right word
Picking between words that nearly fit is what arcoco’s games ask you to do, on iPhone and Android. There is another five-round game on our homepage, or see how arcoco works.
We make arcoco. The examples on this page were written for this site, not taken from the app.
For full entries, see Cambridge Dictionary for tenacious, garrulous and dogmatic.