25 Collocations to Describe Personality in English

If you want to sound more natural in English, learning collocations to describe personality is a very good place to start. In this lesson, you will learn 25 useful expressions for describing people’s character, behaviour, and attitude, with clear meanings and natural example sentences. These collocations are especially useful for everyday English, writing tasks, and the Cambridge exam speaking.

In this lesson, you will learn 25 useful collocations to describe personality, each with a clear meaning and natural example sentences.

Let’s get started.

1. Good company

If someone is good company, they are pleasant, entertaining, and easy to spend time with.

• Tom’s great fun to be around. He’s always been good company.
• We invited Emma on the trip because she’s such good company.

2. Bad company

If someone is bad company, they are a negative influence or unpleasant to be around.

• His parents were worried that he had fallen in with bad company.
• She told her son to stay away from those boys because they were bad company.

3. Have a tendency to exaggerate

If someone has a tendency to exaggerate, they often make things sound bigger, better, or worse than they really are.

• Jake has a tendency to exaggerate, so I never take his stories too seriously.
• She tends to be honest, although she does have a tendency to exaggerate sometimes.

4. Lose your temper

If you lose your temper, you become angry and react emotionally.

• He’s usually calm, but he can lose his temper when he feels disrespected.
• Try not to lose your temper during the meeting.

5. Make snap decisions

If someone makes snap decisions, they make quick decisions without thinking carefully enough.

• She’s clever, but she sometimes makes snap decisions.
• It’s never wise to make snap decisions when you’re upset.

6. Speak your mind

If you speak your mind, you say exactly what you think, even if it may offend someone.

• I admire her because she isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
• He always speaks his mind, whether people like it or not.

7. Enjoy your own company

If you enjoy your own company, you like spending time alone and do not depend on others for entertainment.

• She enjoys her own company and often goes for long walks alone.
• I don’t mind travelling by myself. I enjoy my own company.

8. Hot-tempered

A hot-tempered person becomes angry very easily.

• He’s intelligent, but he can be rather hot-tempered.
• Her boss was so hot-tempered that everyone felt nervous around him.

9. Have a sense of humour

If someone has a sense of humour, they understand jokes and enjoy laughing.

• Even in difficult situations, she still has a sense of humour.
• A good teacher should have patience and a sense of humour.

10. Have a way with words

If you have a way with words, you express yourself very well and speak or write in an effective, attractive way.

• She has a real way with words and writes beautiful speeches.
• He convinced the whole team because he has such a way with words.

11. Get easily bored

If someone gets easily bored, they quickly lose interest in things.

• My nephew gets easily bored, so you need plenty of activities to keep him busy.
• She gets easily bored in jobs that involve too much routine.

12. Have a strong personality

If someone has a strong personality, they are confident, forceful, and not easily influenced by others.

• She has a very strong personality and people naturally listen to her.
• Even as a child, Leo had a strong personality.

13. Be highly confident

If someone is highly confident, they believe strongly in their abilities.

• She is highly confident in interviews and always makes a good impression.
• He came across as highly confident, though not arrogant.

14. Have an outgoing personality

If someone has an outgoing personality, they are friendly, sociable, and comfortable around other people.

• She has such an outgoing personality that she can talk to absolutely anyone.
• Mark’s outgoing personality makes him perfect for sales.

15. Have a burning ambition

If someone has a burning ambition, they have a very strong desire to achieve something.

• From an early age, she had a burning ambition to become a doctor.
• He left his small town because he had a burning ambition to succeed.

16. Be a risk-taker

A risk-taker is someone who is willing to do things that involve danger, uncertainty, or failure.

• Entrepreneurs are often natural risk-takers.
• She’s never been much of a risk-taker, which is why she prefers stability.

17. Be shy and reserved

If someone is shy and reserved, they are quiet, do not express themselves freely, and may avoid attention.

• At first, he seemed shy and reserved, but he became more relaxed later.
• She was a shy and reserved child who preferred books to parties.

18. Have an eye for detail

If you have an eye for detail, you notice small things that other people may miss.

• A good editor must have an eye for detail.
• She spotted the mistake immediately because she has a great eye for detail.

19. Have a vivid imagination

If someone has a vivid imagination, they can easily create clear and interesting ideas, images, or stories in their mind.

• Children often have a vivid imagination.
• He has such a vivid imagination that even ordinary events become fascinating stories.

20. Be good at keeping secrets

If someone is good at keeping secrets, they can be trusted not to tell others private information.

• You can tell Anna anything. She’s good at keeping secrets.
• A true friend is someone who is good at keeping secrets.

21. Bear a grudge

If you bear a grudge, you remain angry with someone for a long time because of something they did in the past.

• He still bears a grudge against his former business partner.
• There’s no point bearing a grudge for years.

22. Be painfully shy

A painfully shy person is extremely shy and feels very uncomfortable in social situations.

• As a teenager, she was painfully shy.
• He’s painfully shy and hates speaking in front of groups.

23. Keep your temper

If you keep your temper, you stay calm and do not become angry.

• It was hard to keep my temper, but I managed.
• Teachers often need to keep their temper in stressful situations.

24. Set high standards

If someone sets high standards, they expect very good results from themselves or others.

• She sets high standards for herself and works incredibly hard.
• Good managers set high standards without becoming unreasonable.

25. Be brutally honest

If someone is brutally honest, they tell the truth very directly, sometimes in a way that hurts other people’s feelings.

• I’ll be brutally honest: that essay needs a lot of work.
• He’s a loyal friend, but he can be brutally honest.

A few useful notes on collocations to describe personality

Here are a few important things to remember:

1. Good company does not mean a business

In this lesson, good company means a pleasant person to spend time with.

• Correct: She’s good company.
• Not in this meaning: She is a good company.

2. Keep your temper means stay calm

It does not mean “keep your anger inside” in a dramatic way. It simply means not lose your temper.

3. Bad company often means bad influence

This expression often suggests that someone may lead others into trouble.

Example sentences in context

Here are a few natural combinations in longer sentences:

• Although she is painfully shy, she has a vivid imagination and writes wonderful stories.
• He has an outgoing personality and a great sense of humour, so he is always good company.
• She has a burning ambition to succeed and always sets high standards for herself.
• He tends to speak his mind, which makes him seem brutally honest at times.
• Our manager has a strong personality and an excellent eye for detail.

Mini practice – collocations to describe personality

Choose the correct collocation to complete each sentence:

1. She never forgets tiny mistakes because she has an eye for ________.
2. He’s very sociable and relaxed. He has an outgoing ________.
3. I try to keep my ________ when things go wrong.
4. Laura is good at keeping ________, so you can trust her.
5. He still bears a ________ against his old neighbour.
6. My brother gets easily ________ if he has nothing to do.
7. She always says exactly what she thinks. She really speaks her ________.
8. He has a burning ________ to become a famous actor.

Answers:

1. detail, 2. personality, 3. temper, 4. secrets, 5. grudge, 6. bored, 7. mind, 8. ambition

Final thought

Learning personality collocations is a wonderful way to make your English sound more natural, precise, and expressive. Instead of only saying that someone is “nice”, “funny”, or “shy”, you can use richer expressions such as good company, have a way with words, or be painfully shy.

The more collocations you learn, the more natural your English will become.

Related posts:

Adjectives to Describe Behaviour and Personality

Describing the Way People Dress

100 Collocations to Use in Daily Life + PDF

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