This article was written by Lawrence Kaufman (L.M.F.T),  561-302-0568 contact@kaufmancounseling.com    

 

 

 

(Note: This list and the following lists in this series of words will be revised several times each year. So, you may want to bookmark this page for future reference.)

 

Introduction:

Below are some of the most commonly used words (and phrases [not just a single word]) that my clients have used to express (or begin to express) their feelings, and to describe the feelings that they view others as having. This list can be used to help people in counseling and psychotherapy (and those who are not) more accurately and skillfully identify and name/ label their feelings (or words closely related to feelings), and to clearly, verbally communicate and express their inner feelings, experiences, and perceptions, to others they are close to.

You can add additional feeling related words to this list as you become aware of them in your daily life. You can also delete words from this list and then add them to another list in this series. For example, you can switch the word “abandoned” from the Level 1 list to the Level 2 list. You can also switch a word from the Level 2 list to the Level 1 list if you find this better matches your unique experience.

In addition, you can conveniently and easily print out these entire lists and email them (if you choose) to any email address you would like to send them to. (Just click on the “Print This” icon at the end of each list.) I wish you well in your lifelong journey towards beneficially increasing your emotional skill level and literacy! Your feedback on these lists is most welcome.

 

List of commonly used words that express feelings (directly or indirectly)

 

(This is the first list in a series of five increasingly challenging vocabulary lists.)

Updated on 3/13/20

 

 

A
abandoned	able	abnormal	abused	accepted
accused	active	addicted	adequate	admired
affectionate	afraid	aggressive	alert	alive
alone	amazed	ambitious	amused	angry
annoyed	anxious	appreciated	appropriate	artificial
ashamed	assertive	astonished	at peace	attacked
attracted to	attractive	authentic	avoided	awake
awful	awkward
B
bad	bashful	battered	beat	beaten up
beautiful	betrayed	better	biased	blamed
blind	bored	bothered	brave	brilliant
broken	bullied	burned out
C
calm	calmed down	capable	cared about	cared for
careful	careless	caring	caught	cautious
certain	challenged	cheated	cheerful	clean
clever	close	clumsy	cold	comfortable
committed	competent	competitive	compulsive	concerned
confident	confused	contaminated	content	controlled
controlling	convinced	cooperative	courageous	courteous
cozy	crazy	creative	crippled	critical
criticized	crowded	cruel	curious	cute
D
damaged	dangerous	dead	deceived	dedicated
defeated	delicate	delighted	demanding	dependable
dependent	depressed	deprived	desperate	destroyed
destructive	different	difficult	dirty	disabled
disappointed	disapproved of	discouraged	discriminated against	disgusted
disgusting	dishonest	disliked	disobedient	disorganized
disrespected	disrespectful	dissatisfied	distant	distorted
distracted	distressed	distrustful	disturbed	dizzy
doing okay	down	down in the dumps	drained	dread
dropped	drunk	dull	dumb
E
eager	easygoing	effective	efficient	embarrassed
emotional	empty	encouraged	energetic	enthusiastic
envious	equal	evil	exasperated	excellent
excited	exhausted	exploited	exploited	extraordinary
F
fabulous	fair	fake	falling apart	false
falsely accused	fantastic	fascinated	fat	fatigued
fearful	fed up	fine	fit	flattered
flexible	fooled	foolish	forced	forgetful
forgiven	forgiving	fortunate	fragile	frantic
freaked out	free	friendly	frightened	frustrated
full	funny	furious
G
ganged up on	generous	gentle	giving	glad
good	gorgeous	grateful	great	greedy
grief	guilty
H
handsome	happy	harsh	hate	hated
healed	healthy	heard	heavy	helped
helpful	helpless	high	honest	hopeful
hopeless	horrible	horror	hostile	hot
humiliated	hung over	hungry	hurt
I
idiotic	ignorant	ignored	ill	impatient
impressed	in control	in pain	inadequate	inappropriate
incapable	incompetent	inconsistent	independent	ineffective
inferior	infuriated	injured	innocent	insane
insecure	insensitive	insufficient	insulted	intelligent
intense	interested	interrupted	intolerant	intoxicated
invaded	invisible	irrational	irresponsible	irritated
isolated
J
jealous
K
kind
L
laughed at	lazy	legitimate	let down	lied to
likable	likeable	liked	little	lively
lonely	lost	loud	lousy	loved
loving	low	loyal	lucky
M
mad	made fun of	magnificent	manipulated	marvelous
mature	mean	messed up	miserable	misinterpreted
misled	mistreated	mistrustful	misunderstood	mixed up
motivated
N
nagged	nasty	naughty	needed	needy
negative	neglected	nervous	nice	normal
not myself	nothing	numb	nuts
O
obedient	obligated	obnoxious	odd	offended
okay	old	open	opposed	ordered around
ordinary	organized	out of control	out of place	outgoing
outstanding	over-loaded	oversensitive	overwhelmed	overworked
P
panicked	panicky	patient	peaceful	perfect
phony	picked on	pissed	pissed off	playful
pleasant	pleased	pleasurable	pleasure	poisoned
poor	popular	positive	powerful	powerless
precious	predictable	prejudiced	prepared	pressured
pretty	productive	protected	proud	provoked
punished	pushed	pushed away	pushy	put down
puzzled
Q
quick	quiet
R
rage	raped	raw	real	reasonable
reassured	refreshed	regretful	rejected	relaxed
reliable	relieved	reluctant	rescued	resented
resentful	respected	respectful	responsible	rested
restless	retaliated against	rich	ridiculous	right
rigid	rotten	rubbed the wrong way	rude	run down
rushed
S
sabotaged	sacrificed	sad	safe	sane
satisfied	saved	scared	screwed up	secure
self-destructive	selfish	sensitive	serious	sexy
shaken	shaken up	shame	sharp	shocked
shouted at	shy	sick	silly	sincere
sinful	skilled	skillful	sleepy	slow
smart	sneaky	sober	sore	sorry
special	spoiled	spontaneous	stable	starved
starving	still	stingy	strange	stressed
stressed out	strong	stubborn	stuck	stuffed
stupid	successful	suffering	super	superior
supported	supportive	sure	surprised	suspicious
sweet	swell	sympathetic
T
taken advantaged of	talked down to	teased	tempted	tender
tense	terrible	terrific	terrified	terror
thirsty	threatened	thrilled	tight	tired
tolerant	tolerated	torn	tough	trapped
tremendous	tricked	trusted	trusting	turned on
U
ugly	unafraid	unappreciated	unattractive	uncared about
uncared for	uncertian	unclear	uncomfortable	unconcerned
undecided	under pressure	understanding	understood	undeserving
undesirable	uneasy	unhappy	unheard	uninterested
unloved	unpredictable	unreliable	unseen	unstable
unsupported	unsure	unwanted	up	upset
uptight	used	useful	useless
V
valuable	valued	vicous	violent	vulnerable
W
wanted	warm	watched	weak	weird
welcome	welcomed	well	well-rested	wicked
wide awake	wise	wonderful	worn out	worried
worthless	worthwhile	worthy	wounded

 

 

 

 

 

By Lawrence Kaufman, Florida Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)       561-302-0568

contact@kaufmancounseling.com