If you want to improve your writing style and make it more exquisite, start with approaching your word choice more thoughtfully. There are many other words to use instead of very that can help you polish your writing, essay, or any other type of written work.
1. Other Phrases or Idioms and Words to Use Instead of Very to Express Emotions and Feelings
- Being very angry means being furious, enraged, outraged, mad. Substitute with seeing red, blowing a fuse, hitting the ceiling, steaming mad, having fire in the belly.
- Words you can use instead of very sad – heartbroken, despondent, miserable, crushed, devastated, depressed. Idioms include feeling down and out, being down in the dumps, having a heavy heart, having a sinking feeling.
- When you are very happy, you can be ecstatic, jubilant, overjoyed, elated, thrilled, thrilled to bits or to the core. You may look overjoyed or euphoric, happy as a clam or as lark. Phrases include being over the moon, beaming with happiness, feeling like walking on sunshine or on air. When one is very happy, they are bursting with joy, in high spirits, or in seventh heaven.
More Words and Phrases
- It is possible to replace very excited with thrilled.
- Very desperate can refer to such words and phrases as frantic, wretched, grasping at straws, being at your wits’ end.
- If a person is very tired, they may be bone, deadbeat, or dead tired, dead as a door nail. Other synonyms are fatigued, exhausted, drained, worn to a frazzle. Phrases include dragging themselves around, dead on their feet, running on empty, being out like a light or at the end of their rope, feeling like a wilted flower, a spent force, or a rag doll, being out of gas, out of steam, or ready to drop.
- It is possible to change very hungry into hungry as a bear, starving, being on a starving diet, famished as a famine, running on empty.
- Very thirsty stands for parched.
- Feeling very energetic is synonymous to exuberant, buzzing with energy, full of beans.
- A very lonely person may be desolate, like an abandoned house, a lone wolf, a shadow in the crowd, a ship lost at sea, a distant island in the sea, a solitary tree in a vast desert.
- Instead of very grateful, use thankful, grateful beyond words, thanking one’s lucky stars, counting your blessings.
- Words and phrases for very regretful are as follows: remorseful, kicking yourself.
- When one is very shocked, they are astounded, stunned speechless, caught off guard or caught by surprise, knocked for a loop, out of their senses, or sideways, taken by storm, speechless with shock, bowled off their feet.
- Being very confused is being baffled or in a fog.
2. Alternatives to Very + Adjective to Describe Someone
- A very smart person is brilliant and sharp-minded. They can be smart as a whip, bright as a button or as a penny, sharp as a tack or as a needle, clever as a fox, being a bright spark.
- On the contrary, a very stupid person is dump as a rock, idiotic, hard-headed, thick-headed. They may be two sandwiches short of a picnic, a few bricks short of a load, a few cards short of a full deck. They are missing a few screws, having a screw loose, being a few cans short of a six-pack.
- A very beautiful person is (drop-dead) gorgeous, stunning, cute as a button, pretty as a peach, being a knockout, having a radiant beauty.
- Very ugly stands for hideous, disgusting, being as ugly as sin.
- Very rich people are wealthy, born with a silver spoon in their mouth, born into wealth, living off the fat of the land, fat cats, living the high life.
- Very poor people are destitute, as poor as a church mouse.
- A very brave person is courageous, as brave as a lion.
- Very shy sands for timid or as timid as a rabbit, as bashful as a lamb, as silent as a night. A person may be as shy as a flower or as a kitten, as quiet as a breeze.
- If someone is very talented, they are gifted.
- Very eager persons are enthusiastic, sky-high spirits, or eager beavers.
3. What to Use Instead of Very to Describe Something
| Very small | Tiny |
| Very big | Enormous |
| Very cold | Freezing |
| Very hot | Scorching |
| Very clean | Spotless |
| Very dirty | Filthy |
| Very old | Ancient |
| Very young | Infantile |
| Very fast | Rapid |
| Very slow | Sluggish |
| Very bright | Dazzling |
| Very dark | Pitch-black |
| Very strong | Powerful/resilient |
| Very weak | Feeble/fragile |
| Very serious | Grave |
| Very expensive | Exorbitant |
| Very cheap | Bargain |
| Very friendly | Amiable |
| Very unfriendly | Hostile |
Overall, you can use such common alternatives to very as deeply, extremely, strongly, desperately, absolutely.
Make your writing style unique and packed with juicy phrases. Other words to use instead of very + an adjective can be one of the steps to do this.
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