How to Describe a Person: Precise Words for Appearance, Character, and Feelings

You've written "nice" three times on one page, and each time it meant something different. The first time it meant polite. The second time it meant pleasant. The third time you weren't even sure what it meant; you just needed a word, and "nice" was the one sitting closest to your hand. That's not a vocabulary problem. It's a precision problem.

Most people searching for words to describe someone in the UK aren't short on adjectives. They know dozens. What they're actually missing is a way to choose between them. This guide gives you both: precise words to describe a person's looks, personality and emotions, and a repeatable method for picking the right one every time, whether you're finishing a novel, writing a character reference, or trying to explain a colleague to someone who's never met them.

Here's what you'll walk away with. A working method for choosing exact words instead of vague ones. Word lists to describe appearance, personality, and emotion, organised by category, each with a definition and an example sentence. A quick reference table that swaps a flat word like "nice" or "smart" for something sharper. And a section on showing emotion through action instead of simply telling the reader how a character feels.

If you need a word right now, skip ahead to the quick reference table. If you want the method that makes every future choice easier, start with the section below.

This guide comes from the editorial team at Northern Star Press, who work daily with novelists and non-fiction authors on manuscript editing and character development, and it's built to be used, not just read once.

This isn't a list to memorise in one sitting. Treat it the way you'd treat a reference shelf: come back to it while you're actually drafting, when a specific sentence needs a specific word, and let the categories guide you to the right shelf instead of scrolling through an alphabetical list hoping something jumps out.

How to Choose the Right Word: Context, Tone, and Specificity Filters

Word lists are only half the job. The harder skill is knowing which word from the list belongs in your sentence. That's a decision process, and it's one most writing guides skip entirely.

Start With the Exact Quality You Want to Name

Vague words survive because they cover so much ground. "Nice" can mean kind, polite, pleasant, gentle, or easygoing, and none of those are the same thing on the page. Before you write the word, ask yourself what you actually mean. Is this person kind because they act on other people's behalf, or pleasant because they're easy to be around, or polite because they follow social rules well?

A useful test: if you can name three more specific words that could replace the vague one, pick whichever of those three fits the moment. If you can't name even one, you probably haven't decided what you're trying to say yet, and that's worth sitting with before you write on.

You don't need a fancier word for "angry". You need the right degree of angry, and that changes from scene to scene.

Match the Word to the Situation: Resume, Novel, or Personal Note

The same person needs different words depending on where they're being described. A person who plans three steps ahead and rarely acts on impulse might be "strategic" on a CV, "easygoing" in a birthday card from a friend who only sees their relaxed side, and "calculating" in a thriller where that same trait reads as a threat. None of these words are wrong. They're just calibrated to a different reader and a different purpose.

Fiction tends to reward precision and a bit of edge. Professional writing rewards neutrality and restraint. Personal notes reward warmth. Before you commit to a word, ask which of those three contexts you're actually writing in, because the same trait can be a compliment or a warning depending on the frame around it.

Check Connotation and Tone Before You Commit

Near-synonyms are rarely interchangeable. "Calm" feels peaceful. "Stoic" feels restrained, almost guarded, as if the person is holding something back rather than simply being at ease. "Mad", "irked", "irritated" and "furious" describe the same emotional family but land at completely different volumes.

Read your sentence back and ask what mood the word creates, not just what it technically means. A character described as "frugal" reads as sensible. The same behaviour described as "cheap" reads as petty. The facts can be identical. The judgement carried by the word is what changes the reader's opinion of the person. This is worth checking deliberately, not just trusting your ear, because the words that feel most natural to reach for are often the ones you've absorbed unconsciously from other writing, connotation and all.

Use One Strong Adjective Instead of Three Vague Ones

"A really nice, friendly, pleasant person" is three words doing the work of one. Cut it down to "a warm, approachable person," and the sentence gains weight instead of losing it. Stacking adjectives usually signals that you haven't found the right one yet, so you're covering the gap with volume.

One precise word almost always beats a pile of approximate ones. If you find yourself reaching for a third adjective in the same sentence, stop and ask whether a single better word would do the job the other two are trying to do.

Verify Definitions and Usage Before Formal Writing

If a word is going into anything formal- a report, a professional bio, a query letter- check its definition and connotation before you commit to it. Words like "shrewd", "blunt," or "reserved" carry a slightly different weight depending on the source and the context, and a quick check takes thirty seconds and can save you from an awkward misread. This matters most in professional writing, where a single wrong-toned word can undercut an otherwise strong piece of copy.

Words to Describe Physical Appearance: Build, Face, Hair, and Style

Physical description earns its place when it does more than list hair and eye colour. The best appearance words suggest something about how a person moves through the world, not just what they look like standing still.

Build and Posture

• Lanky: tall and thin, often with a slightly awkward look. "His lanky frame unfolded from the chair like it had more joints than it needed."

• Stocky: solidly built, compact rather than tall. "He was stocky and immovable, the kind of person a crowd naturally parted around."

• Wiry: thin but visibly strong, with tight, ropey muscle. "Her wiry arms made the heavy crate look like nothing."

• Broad-shouldered: wide across the shoulders, often read as capable or imposing. "He filled the doorway, broad-shouldered and unhurried."

• Stooped: bent forward, often from age or habit. "He was stooped now, though photographs showed a man who once stood a head above everyone else."

• Upright: standing straight, sometimes suggesting discipline or formality. "She sat upright even when the meeting had gone on for two hours."

• Graceful: moving with ease and control. "She crossed the room with a graceful economy of movement, nothing wasted."

• Lumbering: moving heavily and without much grace. "He lumbered up the stairs, two at a time, out of breath by the landing."

• Slight: small and light in frame. "She was slight, easy to underestimate, and she knew it."

• Sturdy: solidly and dependably built. "He had a sturdy frame that made him look like he'd never been unwell a day in his life."

• Nimble: quick and light on their feet. "She was nimble on the stairs, taking two at a time without a sound."

• Rangy: tall and loose-limbed, with a long stride. "He was rangy in the way distance runners often are, all length and no bulk."

Describe unique physical details or quirks instead of defaulting to hair and eye colour. A chipped tooth, a scar above one eyebrow, a habit of standing with weight on one hip- these details do more work than a generic "tall with brown hair" ever will. It's also worth noting that leading with body size as the first or only descriptor can read as careless, especially in professional or academic writing, so use it with the same care you'd use for any other identifying detail.

Face and Expression

• Angular: sharp-featured, with visible bone structure. "His angular face looked carved rather than grown."

• Weathered: marked by sun, wind, or hard experience. "His weathered face softened when he smiled, decades falling away in a second."

• Expressive: showing feeling readily through the face. "Her expressive eyebrows gave away every thought before she spoke it."

• Guarded: closed off, revealing little. "His face stayed guarded through the entire negotiation."

• Animated: lively and full of movement. "He talked with his whole face, animated even over something as small as directions."

• Stern: serious, often disapproving. "The stern set of her mouth ended the conversation before anyone tried to continue it."

• Open: welcoming, easy to read. "He had an open face, the kind that made strangers tell him things."

• Gaunt: thin and hollow, sometimes from illness or exhaustion. "Weeks of overwork had left him gaunt around the eyes."

• Weary: tired in a way that shows. "Her weary expression said more than the report on the table."

• Impassive: showing no visible reaction at all. "He listened to the verdict with an impassive face that gave the jury nothing back."

• Beaming: openly and warmly happy. "She came off the stage beaming, unable to stop smiling for the rest of the night."

• Sombre: serious and heavy with feeling. "His sombre expression told the room the news wasn't good before he said a word."

Use contrast to create depth. A gentle giant. A beautiful villain. A cheerful undertaker. Pairing a physical trait against expectation tells the reader that this character resists an easy label, which is far more interesting than a face that simply matches a personality.

Hair and Grooming

• Dishevelled: untidy, as if just out of bed or after a hard day. "Her dishevelled hair suggested she'd been working through the night, not sleeping through it."

• Sleek: smooth, glossy and well-kept. "His hair was sleek, not a strand out of place, even after the flight."

• Cropped: cut very short. "She kept her hair cropped close, practical for the work she did."

• Unkempt: neglected, uncared for. "His unkempt beard suggested he hadn't looked in a mirror in days."

• Polished: carefully groomed, deliberate in appearance. "He arrived polished from the shoes up, nothing about him accidental."

• Windswept: disordered by wind, often read as natural rather than careless. "She stepped inside windswept and laughing, hair everywhere."

• Thinning: gradually losing hair. "His hair had been thinning for years, though he never mentioned it."

• Meticulously styled: carefully and precisely arranged. "Not a single hair was out of place, meticulously styled the way it had been every day of his career."

• Wavy: loosely curled, neither straight nor tightly curled. "Her wavy hair never quite behaved the way she planned, and she'd stopped fighting it years ago."

• Close-cropped: cut very short and neat, often practical rather than fashionable. "His close-cropped hair suited the job he did, nothing for anyone to grab."

Hair can signal personality or state of mind; a character who lets their hair go unkempt during a crisis says something without a line of dialogue, but be careful with clichés like "raven-haired" or "golden locks", which tell the reader almost nothing new.

Style and Presence

• Understated: quiet, not drawing attention to itself. "Her style was understated, good fabric and nothing flashy."

• Flamboyant: bold, showy, hard to ignore. "He walked in, flamboyant as ever, three colours nobody else would have paired."

• Rumpled: creased and slightly untidy, often endearing rather than careless. "He was permanently rumpled, as if his clothes couldn't keep up with him."

• Tailored: fitted and precise. "Everything he wore was tailored, down to the cuffs."

• Casual: relaxed and informal. "She kept things casual even at the launch, jeans and a good coat."

• Imposing: commanding attention through presence. "He didn't need to raise his voice; he was imposing just standing still."

• Unassuming: modest, not seeking attention. "His unassuming manner made people trust him quickly, long before they knew what he'd built."

• Magnetic: naturally drawing people's attention and interest. "She had a magnetic presence that made a quiet room lean toward her."

• Polished: refined and deliberately put together in bearing as well as dress. "She carried herself with a polished ease that made the room feel less formal, not more."

• Dishevelled (as presence, not just hair): generally untidy in bearing. "He arrived dishevelled and apologetic, tie loose, one shoe still half untied."

In professional contexts, be cautious with appearance comments and focus on behaviour and skills instead. "Confident and well prepared" says more, and risks less, than any comment on how someone looks. If you're writing a CV, a reference, or a workplace email and want language that reads as careful rather than casual, our team's blog on common grammar mistakes covers several of the small slips that undercut otherwise professional writing.

Words to Describe Personality: Warmth, Intelligence, Work Ethic, and Social Style

Personality words earn their place when they reveal values, habits, or a way of relating to other people, not just a label stuck on top of a character.

Warmth and Kindness

• Compassionate: deeply concerned for others' suffering. "She was compassionate in a way that showed up in small, unglamorous acts, not speeches."

• Considerate: thoughtful of others' feelings and needs. "It was considerate of him to ask about my day before launching into his own news."

• Empathetic: able to genuinely feel and understand another's experience. "He was empathetic enough to notice the silence before anyone explained it."

• Gracious: courteous and warm, especially under pressure. "She stayed gracious even when the review was unfair."

• Hospitable: welcoming, generous to guests. "Their home was hospitable in the old-fashioned sense, the kettle always on."

• Nurturing: supportive of others' growth. "He had a nurturing way of managing juniors, correcting without ever belittling."

• Warm: friendly and approachable in manner. "Her warm handshake put the whole room at ease before she'd said a word."

• Approachable: easy to talk to, unintimidating. "He was senior but approachable, the kind of manager people actually stopped to ask questions."

• Generous: freely giving of time, money or attention. "She was generous with feedback, never withholding praise to seem tougher."

• Patient: able to tolerate delay or difficulty without frustration. "He was patient with the new starters in a way that made the whole team more forgiving of its own mistakes."

Intelligence and Perceptiveness

• Astute: shrewdly perceptive, especially in practical matters. "Her astute reading of the room saved the meeting from collapse."

• Discerning: showing good judgement, especially about quality or people. "He was discerning about who he trusted with the details."

• Insightful: able to see beneath the surface of a situation. "Her insightful questions unpicked assumptions nobody else had noticed."

• Perceptive: quick to notice or understand things. "She was perceptive enough to see the tension behind his smile."

• Sharp: quick-thinking, mentally alert. "He was sharp enough to catch the contradiction three sentences before anyone else did."

• Observant: attentive to small details. "She was observant in a way that made her excellent at her job and slightly unnerving at dinner."

• Ingenious: cleverly inventive, especially in solving problems. "His ingenious fix held the whole system together for another two years."

• Intuitive: understanding things quickly, without needing them spelled out. "She was intuitive about people in a way no training course could have taught her."

Replace telling adjectives with behaviour wherever you can. Instead of writing "she was perceptive," show her noticing the new intern's confusion before it's spoken aloud, and quietly repeating the instructions. The trait lands harder because the reader worked it out themselves.

Work Ethic and Reliability

• Diligent: careful and steady in effort. "He was diligent to a fault, checking work twice that nobody else would have checked once."

• Meticulous: extremely careful about details. "Her meticulous notes caught the error everyone else had missed."

• Conscientious: guided by a strong sense of duty. "He was conscientious about deadlines in a way his team quietly relied on."

• Dependable: reliably consistent. "She was dependable in the way that only shows up when things go wrong, and someone actually turns up."

• Industrious: hardworking, energetically productive. "He was industrious from the first week, never waiting to be told what came next."

• Disciplined: controlled and consistent in effort or habit. "Her disciplined approach to editing meant she never sent a first draft anywhere."

• Proactive: acting ahead of need rather than reacting to it. "He was proactive enough to flag the risk before anyone had asked him to look for one."

• Thorough: complete and careful, leaving nothing out. "Her research was thorough enough that nobody bothered checking it afterward."

• Persistent: continuing steadily despite obstacles. "He was persistent about the funding application long after everyone else had given up on it."

• Resourceful: good at finding practical solutions with limited means. "She was resourceful enough to fix the launch with tape, patience, and about four minutes to spare."

Social Style and Energy

• Gregarious: sociable, enjoys company. "He was gregarious at parties and exhausted the moment he got home."

• Reserved: restrained, slow to reveal much. "She was reserved with strangers and unrecognisable with her closest friends."

• Charismatic: naturally compelling and likeable. "He was charismatic enough to make a delayed flight feel like an event."

• Aloof: distant, keeping others at arm's length. "She stayed aloof through the whole induction, and nobody quite knew why."

• Outgoing: sociable and confident in groups. "He was outgoing in the way that made new colleagues feel welcome within an hour."

• Introverted: drawing energy from solitude rather than company. "She was introverted, not shy, and the two were often confused."

• Easygoing: relaxed and not easily upset. "His easygoing manner made the tense meeting feel less formal."

• Independent: self-reliant, comfortable acting without others. "She was independent enough to move cities twice without ever waiting for company."

• Inquisitive: eagerly curious, quick to ask questions. "He was inquisitive in meetings in a way that occasionally ran long and always turned up something useful."

Reveal personality through habits, speech patterns, and reactions to conflict rather than labels alone. A character who apologises before disagreeing tells you something a straight adjective never could.

A Quick Note on Words That Start With a Specific Letter

If you've landed here looking for words with I to describe someone, notice how many turned up naturally across the lists above: insightful, industrious, independent, inquisitive, impassive, imposing. That's not a coincidence. Most letters of the alphabet have a strong personality or appearance word attached to them, which is exactly why organising a word list by category, rather than alphabetically, tends to be more useful. You'll find the right word faster by asking what quality you're naming than by scrolling through an alphabet looking for inspiration.

Words to Describe How Someone Speaks

Voice is one of the most overlooked tools for character description, and it's often more revealing than a face or a build, because how someone speaks says something about how they think.

• Clipped: short and abrupt in speech. "Her answers stayed clipped for the rest of the call."

• Measured: careful and deliberate, rarely rushed. "He spoke in a measured way, as if every sentence had been checked before it left his mouth."

• Halting: hesitant, breaking off and starting again. "Her halting explanation made it clear she hadn't planned to say any of it out loud."

• Blunt: direct to the point of bluntness, sometimes at the cost of tact. "He was blunt in meetings, which people either respected or dreaded depending on the day."

• Soft-spoken: quiet in volume, often calm in delivery. "She was soft-spoken but never once had to repeat herself."

• Animated (in speech): lively and expressive when talking. "He got animated the moment the subject turned to football."

• Terse: brief to the point of coldness. "His terse reply ended the email thread faster than anyone expected."

• Articulate: able to express ideas clearly and fluently. "She was articulate enough to make a complicated policy sound simple."

Pair a voice word with the personality trait it supports. A character who is blunt in speech and diligent in habit reads very differently to one who is blunt in speech and reckless in habit, even though "blunt" hasn't changed at all. The surrounding traits are what give a single word its full meaning.

Words to Describe Emotions: From Mild to Extreme

Emotion words are about degree. "Angry" is too broad to be useful on its own. A character who is irked is not the same as one who is outraged, and choosing the right degree of feeling is what keeps a scene believable.

Why Intensity Matters

Intensity affects pacing, dialogue, and how much the reader is asked to feel alongside the character. Push a mild feeling too hard, and the scene reads as melodramatic. Underplay a huge one and the moment falls flat. The fix isn't a better synonym; it's the right synonym for exactly how far the feeling has travelled.

Annoyance Ladder: From Mild to Extreme

• Annoyed: mildly bothered. "She was annoyed by the noise but didn't say anything."

• Irked: mildly annoyed, with a slight edge. "She was irked by the delay, but not enough to complain."

• Irritated: more persistently bothered. "The noise irritated her after an hour of it."

• Irate: openly and visibly angry. "He was irate by the time the second call went unanswered."

• Furious: intensely and forcefully angry. "He was furious when he saw the damage."

• Outraged: angered by something felt to be deeply unjust. "The whole team was outraged when the decision came down without warning."

Other Emotion Families With Intensity Scales

Happiness: content (satisfied, at ease), pleased (mildly happy about something specific), cheerful (visibly upbeat), delighted (genuinely thrilled), elated (intensely joyful), ecstatic (overwhelmed with joy).

Sadness: down (mildly low), blue (quietly unhappy), melancholy (wistfully sad, often reflective), sorrowful (deeply sad, often with grief attached), grief-stricken (overwhelmed by loss), devastated (completely undone by sadness).

Fear: uneasy (mildly on edge), nervous (visibly anxious about an outcome), anxious (persistently worried), afraid (genuinely scared), terrified (overwhelmed by fear), panicked (fear tipping into loss of control).

Surprise: startled (a sudden, brief jolt), surprised (genuinely caught off guard), astonished (deeply surprised), shocked (surprised in a way that disturbs), stunned (surprised to the point of being unable to react).

Affection: fond (mildly warm toward someone), attached (genuinely caring, some investment shown), devoted (consistently loyal and caring), smitten (visibly infatuated), adoring (deeply and openly loving).

Disgust: put off (mildly repelled), distasteful (finding something unpleasant), repulsed (strongly repelled), revolted (intensely disgusted), appalled (disgusted by something felt to be morally wrong).

Try mapping a scene you're currently writing onto one of these ladders. If your character is "sad," ask exactly where on the scale they actually sit, because "melancholy" and "devastated" call for entirely different sentences around them.

Quick Reference Table: Replace Vague Words with Precise Alternatives

Use this table when you know the rough idea but need the exact word.

Bookmark this table. It's the fastest fix for a first draft full of "nice" and "good", and it's the section most writers come back to.

Show, Don't Tell: Turn Adjectives into Actions and Body Language

Adjectives label a trait. Actions reveal it. A reader trusts a character they've watched behave a certain way far more than one they've simply been told about.

What Show, Don't Tell Means for Character Description

Telling: "She was sad." Showing: "She pressed her lips together and looked away." The second version asks the reader to do a little work, and that small effort is what makes the moment stick. Telling delivers a fact. Showing delivers an experience.

One Word Versus One Moment Examples

• Flat: "He was nervous." Moment: "He tapped his pen against the table and checked the clock twice before speaking."

• Flat: "She was kind." Moment: "She handed the last umbrella to the stranger and walked into the rain."

• Flat: "He was perceptive." Moment: "He noticed the new intern's confusion before anyone else and quietly repeated the instructions."

• Flat: "She was arrogant." Moment: "She answered the question before it was finished and didn't wait to be asked another."

• Flat: "He was generous." Moment: "He left twice the usual tip and didn't mention it to anyone at the table."

Every one of these moments does the adjective's job without ever using the adjective. That's the test worth applying to your own descriptions: could a reader guess the trait from the behaviour alone, with the label removed?

Turn Emotions into Body Language and Dialogue

Map feeling to physical cue. Anger often shows as a clenched jaw or a flattened voice. Sadness shows as slumped shoulders or a delay before answering. Anxiety shows as fidgeting, checking a phone, or repeating a question that's already been answered. Joy shows as an open posture and gestures that take up more space than usual.

Dialogue can carry the same weight. A nervous character interrupts themselves. A confident one finishes every sentence. A grieving one answers in single words where they used to answer in paragraphs. None of this needs an adjective attached, and none of it needs explaining once it's on the page.

Common Mistakes Writers Make When Describing People and Emotions 

Adjective Overload

"A tall, dark, handsome, mysterious, brooding stranger" is five adjectives competing for the same sentence. Cut it to "a tall stranger with a guarded expression," and the description gets stronger, not weaker. If a sentence has more than two or three adjectives stacked together, that's usually a sign none of them has been chosen carefully enough yet. Cut the weakest two and see if the sentence still works; it almost always does.

This applies just as much to emotion as it does to appearance. "She was sad, upset, disappointed and hurt" tells the reader she's having a bad day, but it doesn't tell them how it feels from the inside. One well-chosen word, backed up by a single physical detail, will carry more than four stacked feelings ever could.

Inappropriate Appearance Comments in Professional Settings

Commenting on appearance is often best avoided in professional contexts altogether. In a performance review, "well presented" says less and risks more than "consistently prepared for client meetings." In a workplace email, focus on behaviour and output rather than how someone looks or dresses. This isn't about avoiding physical description everywhere; it's about knowing which register calls for it and which one doesn't.

Confusing Positive, Negative, and Neutral Connotations

Near-synonyms can carry opposite judgements. "Thrifty" and "cheap" describe the same behaviour, but one reads as sensible and the other as small-minded. "Confident" and "arrogant" both describe self-assurance, but only one is a compliment. "Curious" and "nosy" describe the same interest in other people's business, framed in opposite directions. Before you commit to a word, ask whether you're describing the behaviour or quietly judging it, because the reader will pick up on whichever one you intended, and sometimes the one you didn't.

Telling Instead of Showing

A precise adjective beats a vague one. A revealing action usually beats either. If you've picked exactly the right word and the sentence still feels flat, the fix probably isn't a better adjective; it's replacing the adjective with a moment that proves it.

Your Final Checklist Before You Publish Any Description 

Precision beats quantity every time. The goal was never to use bigger words; it was to use the right ones, matched to context, checked for connotation, and backed up with a moment that shows the trait in action rather than simply naming it.

Before you publish or submit anything with a character or person described in it, run through this:

• Have I replaced vague words like nice, smart, funny, and pretty with something more precise?

• Does the word match the context: resume, novel, or personal note?

• Have I checked the connotation and tone of each word I've chosen?

• Have I used one strong adjective instead of three vague ones?

• Have I shown emotion through action or body language wherever it matters most?

• Have I avoided inappropriate appearance comments in professional writing?

• Have I checked definitions and usage for anything going into formal or published work?

Keep the quick reference table open in another tab while you edit. It's the fastest way to catch the "nice, good, very, really" habit that sneaks into even careful first drafts. It's worth doing this pass separately from your main edit, since it's easy to read past a vague word when you're focused on plot, argument, or structure instead of language. Once the manuscript is polished and ready for production, it also helps to understand how to print a book in the UK before moving on to the final publishing stage.

If you're working on a full manuscript rather than a single description, the same precision matters across the whole book, not just the character introductions. Our team offers a full book editing service for writers who want a professional pass on language, pacing, and consistency once the draft is finished, and a dedicated proofreading service for the line-level pass that catches what editing alone sometimes misses.

What to Do Next Once Your Manuscript Is Ready 

Precise language is one part of a much larger craft. If character description is the piece you're working on today, the surrounding decisions, structure, voice, and pacing tend to show up in the same draft. A ghostwriting service can help if you're working from notes or a rough draft and need the whole manuscript brought into a consistent voice. If cover and packaging are next on your list, book cover design and a short book trailer can carry the same precision you've just built into your character work through to how the book is presented to readers. Once the manuscript itself is ready, book formatting prepares it for print and digital release, and print on demand, or a full book publishing service, can take it from finished file to available title. For non-fiction and memoir in particular, audiobook production extends the same careful word choice into narration, and book marketing helps the right readers actually find the book once it's live.

Conclusion

Every word in this guide is a tool, not a rule. You don't need to use all of them, and you definitely don't need to use several at once. You need the one that matches exactly what you're trying to say, in the context you're saying it, said in a way that respects the person on the other end of the sentence, real or fictional.

Start small. Pick your worst offender, "nice," "good," "smart," or "pretty," and hunt it down in whatever you're working on right now. Replace it once, properly, using the categories above. Then do it again tomorrow. That's the whole method, repeated until precision stops feeling like effort and starts feeling like your normal way of writing.