(Discover even more words in The Writer’s Body Lexicon.)

According to Thomas Fuller, the devil lies brooding in the miser’s chest. Rod Stewart said that a person has to have a burning desire in the chest to succeed. And then there’s Erma Bombeck, who quipped, “What’s with you men? Would hair stop growing on your chest if you asked directions somewhere?”

An overweight man or out-of-shape bodybuilder might have pecs that move and look like flabby breasts. A female stevedore or competitive swimmer might develop a muscular torso that appears more masculine than feminine.

In several areas of this post, I created separate headings for chests and breasts. However, you might prefer to apply words differently, sometimes for comedic effect.

When considering descriptors, pay attention to opinion adjectives and how they affect point of view.

Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations

Before reviewing the following beats, note that he crossed his arms across his chest can be shortened to he crossed his arms.

Many readers will associate a puffed-out chest with aggression or arrogance, but they might not see a clear association with delight or determination. Ensure suitable context for vague emotion beats.

Aggression
puffed-out chest

Aggrievement, distress
shoulders slumped inward over chest
chest, neck, and face flush and feel hot

Agitation, nervousness
clutching papers against chest

Amazement
holding a hand against chest

Anger
thrusting chest forward, fists propped on hips

Anticipation
holding a hand against chest

Anxiety
tightness in the chest

Arrogance
puffed-out chest

Confidence, scorn, smugness
puffed-out chest
light feeling in the chest

Conflict
tightness in the chest

Confusion
tightness in the chest

Contempt
puffed-out chest

Defeat, desperation, discouragement
when emotion is intense: chest pains or numbness accompanied by thumping heart

Defensiveness
pressing chin against chest
holding both hands over chest, shoulders hunched inward

Delight, euphoria
puffed-out chest
heart drumming in chest

Depression
hollow sensation in chest

Desire
heart fluttering in chest

Determination
puffed-out chest

Disappointment
tightness in chest

Dread, fear, terror
chest pains
clutching chest with one or both hands
heavy sensation, tingling in chest
closed posture, arms and fists pulled into chest

Embarrassment
tightness in chest
drooping posture, chest pulled inward

Envy, jealousy
heartburn burbling up into chest

Excitement
chest-bumping with another person or persons

Frustration, irritation
tightness in chest

Gratitude
placing one hand over chest (heart)

Guilt, shame
tightness in chest
lowering chin to chest

Happiness
placing both hands over chest

Hatred
tightness in chest
when emotion is intense: chest pains or numbness accompanied by thumping heart

Hopefulness
placing both hands over chest

Humiliation
tightness and pain in chest

Insecurity
holding a familiar item of comfort against the chest (stuffed animal, lucky charm, photo of a loved one, etc.)

Overwhelm
sitting or sleeping in fetal position, with knees drawn close to chest

Pride
puffed-out chest

Regret
tightness in chest
massaging shoulder or chest

Resentment
tightness in chest

Sadness
tightness in chest
heavy sensation in chest
massaging shoulder or chest

Satisfaction
puffed-out chest

Sexual attraction
embracing someone, with full chest-to-chest contact

Shame
tightness in chest
shoulders hunched forward over chest

Shock, surprise
quickly clutching chest with one or both hands

Sympathy
crossing hands over chest, and curling shoulders inward

If you need additional beats, consult a body language dictionary. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Adjectives, Both Chests and Breasts

A to C
abnormal, adolescent, amazing, ample, armored, athletic, bare, beautiful, blood-caked, bloodied, bloodstained, boyish, brazen, bristly, bruised, bulging, bulky, bushy, childish, chubby, clean, cold, compact

D and E
damp, defined, deformed, delicate, developed, developing, diminutive, divine, effeminate, elongated, emaciated, empty, enchanting, enormous

F and G
fabulous, fat, feminine, fevered, flat, flawless, fleshy, fragile, frail, frosty, frozen, full, furry, gleaming, glossy, glowing, gorgeous, grimy, grizzled

H to M
hairless, hairy, hard, healthy, hideous, hirsute, hot, icy, ideal, immense, impressive, inflamed, insubstantial, iridescent, leathery, magnificent, marvelous, massive, meager, motionless

N to R
naked, narrow, outstanding, painful, perfect, phenomenal, prodigious, prominent, proud, puny, raw, repugnant, resilient, rock-hard

S
sexy, shaggy, shallow, shapely, shiny, shirtless, shrunken, slack, slender, slimy, slippery, smooth, sodden, sopping, sore, splendid, sticky, stunning, superb, sweaty

T to V
tempting, titanic, T-shirted, unattractive, underdeveloped, unimpressive, unprotected, unremarkable, unusual, veined, velvety, voluminous

W to Y
warm, well-defined, well-fleshed, well-proportioned, wet, wondrous, wrinkled, wrinkly, young, youthful

Adjectives Breasts Only

A to D
akimbo, alert, alluring, ample, barren, blubbery, bold, braless, budding, buoyant, busty, buxom, chaste, chesty, conspicuous, dainty, delectable, delicate, diminutive, dry

E to L
empty, enchanting, enlarged, exuberant, fake, firm, flabby, flaccid, free, generous, gigantic, girlish, heavy, high, huge, immature, jaunty, large, little, lopsided, lovely, lumpy, luscious, lush

M to R
maternal, mature, miniscule, modest, monstrous, nascent, numb, oversized, padded, pendulous, perky, pert, plump, pretty, ripe, rotund

S
saggy, sensitive, shriveled, small, smallish, soft, succulent, sweet, swollen

U to W
unbound, unencumbered, unfettered, upright, upstanding, useless, virginal, voluptuous, well-endowed, withered

Adjectives, Chests only

A to F
angular, athletic, bearish, beefy, bony, brawny, broad, buff, built, bullish, burly, cadaverous, carved, chiseled, clear, confident, congested, deep, expansive, frail

G to O
gangly, gaunt, handsome, hard, haughty, hench, Herculean, hollow, hulking, lean, male, mammoth, manly, masculine, matted, meaty, mighty, musclebound, muscular, obdurate, overdeveloped

P to R
powerful, puffed-out, rasping, raspy, resonant, ribbed, rickety, rigid, robust, rugged

S
scrawny, sculpted, serviceable, sinewy, skeletal, skinny, sleek, slick, solid, sonorous, strapping, streamlined, strong, stubbly, sturdy, sunken

T to W
taut, thick, thin, tight, tough, unyielding, valiant, vast, weak, well-muscled, wheezy, wide

Similes and Metaphors

Rather than copy any of the following, leverage them as ideas for your own phrasing.

• breasts like twin doorknobs
• breasts like twin watermelons
• breasts more wrinkled than last year’s apple crop
• breasts that bounce like water balloons
• chest as blocky as a chest of drawers
• chest flatter than a smushed bug
• chest hairier than a barber’s floor
• desire that burns like a wildfire in one’s chest
• fear cinching one’s chest tighter than any corset ever could
• grief — an anvil crushing one’s chest
• heart beating in one’s chest like a butterfly trapped in a net
• shock piercing one’s chest like a lightning bolt

upper body like a bulldog’s chest

Colors

Torsos that spend hours bared in the sun will mirror the color and tone of a character’s neck and face.

If a character keeps the upper body covered most of the time, it will be lighter in color — humor fodder for Canadian or Icelandic protagonists, perhaps?

B to W
bronzed, coppery, creamy, crimson, dark, fair, freckled, lily-white [cliché], milky, orange, pale, pallid, patchy, pink, rosy, sallow, salt-and-pepper [cliché], snow-white [cliché], snowy, speckled, swarthy, tanned, tawny, white-haired

See also the Color/Tone section of 300+ Words to Describe Skin.

Scents

Exposure to many substances will cause a person’s chest to retain the aroma, often affecting first impressions.

If a woman, who has referred to herself as a “single virgin” in a matchmaking app, arrives with the smells of baby powder and spit-up emanating from her cleavage, her prospective date might suspect she isn’t telling the truth. A CEO whose chest smells like wet dog might trigger a sneezing fit and subsequent avoidance by a prospective investor.

A person’s chest or breasts might smell like, reek of, or be redolent with the scent of:

A to D
almonds, antiseptic, baby oil, baby powder, bacon bits, a bakery, barfed-up booze, bat guano, the beach, body wash, burnt flesh, C4, camphor oil, cat food, chocolate milk, coffee grounds, cookie dough, depilatory, diaper cream, dirty socks, dog breath

E to R
egg salad, a forest glen, formaldehyde, goose grease, Grandma’s kitchen, gunpowder, halitosis, honey, kerosene, K-Y Jelly, lamp oil, lemon frosting, maple syrup, musty beard, old books, a one-night stand, orange peels, peppermint tea, pilfered doughnuts, pipe tobacco, rancid coconut oil, road kill, rotten cheese

S to W
salad dressing, sandalwood, sawdust, shampoo, a skunk, soap, a sour dishrag, sour milk, a spice rack, spit-up, stinky towels, strawberries, sunblock, sweat, talcum powder, tar, tent canvas, too much cologne, vanilla, wet dog

Shapes

Many shapes in this short list can refer to both chests and breasts.

A to W
asymmetrical, barrel-chested, bell-shaped, blocky, concave, conical, convex, domed, flat, misshapen, pear-shaped, pigeon-chested, pointed, pointy, round(ed), shapeless, teardrop, triangular, wedge-shaped, well-rounded

Verbs and Phrasal Verbs (1): Transitive

These verbs take direct objects. A character’s chest might burn with desire, fill with air, or strain against shackles.

A to S
ache (from, with), brush (against), burn with, engorge with, fill with, heave (against, into), peek out of, press against, resemble, rub (against), scrape against, slam (into), strain against, support

Verbs and Phrasal Verbs (2): Intransitive

The verbs in this section don’t require an object. A chest might balloon, congest, or expand. Period.

A to G
ache, appear, balloon, bead with, bleed, bounce, bulge, burn, clog (up), collapse, congest, constrict, dangle, deflate, distend, drip, expand, freeze, gleam, glisten, glitter, glow

H to T
hang, hurt, itch, jut, leak, perspire, prickle, protrude, rattle, relax, ripple, sag, shine, shrink, sink, spasm, strain, sweat, tickle, tighten

Verbs and Phrasal Verbs (3): Verbs that Take Chest/Breast or Chests/Breasts as an Object

Examples:

Serafina bandaged her chest with strips torn from her petticoat.

Brad thumped his chest. “Nobody tells me what to do.”

An arrow pierced the knight’s chest.

A to H
adorn (with), bandage (with), bare, batter, beat at (with), beat on (with), blanket (in, with), claw at, clutch (with), compress, cover (with), crush (with), cut (with), decorate (with), display, draw on (with), expand, expose, feel (with), flash, hold, hug

I to S
inflate, lacerate (on, with), massage (with), paint (with), palpate, pierce (with), poke (with), press (against), puff (out, up), punch (with), push (with), shake, shave (with), slash (with), slather (with), slice (with), squeeze, stab (with), strike (with), swath (in, with)

T to W
thrust out, thump (with), touch (with), uncover, unveil, wax (with), wound (on, with)

Nouns, Both Chests and Breasts

N to T
nipples, pecs, pectorals, thorax

Refer to the next two sections as well for suitable nouns.

Nouns, Chests Only

You might (usually in poetry or older works) find breast used as a replacement for chest, as in: He beat upon his breast.

Compared to the plethora of slang and vulgar terms coined by authors for breast(s), I discovered a dearth of similar words for chest. Fodder for an opinion editorial, perhaps?

B to T
breast, Chewbacca sweater, gorilla torso, lung carpet, man boobs, manpelt, manssier-stuffer, muscleini, rib cage, thorax, torso, trunk

Find more words by googling slang terms for chest.

Nouns, Breasts Only

If your character is an uncouth jerk, you might be able to get away with using some of the rude words in this section in dialogue. Otherwise, you’ll invite the ire of readers. As Shakespeare’s Falstaff said, “Discretion is the better part of valor.”

If you need more offensive words, google derogatory terms for breasts or offensive names for breasts.

B to F
bazookas, boobs, bosom, bra stuffers, breast-o-raunts, bust, buzzums, casabas, chesticles, chi-chis, cleavage, Daddy’s playground, double-Ds, flotation devices

G to X
the girls, healthy lungs, hooters, jugs, knockers, mammary glands, mammas, mammillae, melons, milk tanks, mosquito bites, num-nums, ta-tas, teats, tits, twins, wardrobe malfunctions, XL lungs

Props

Props augment a story or twist it in new directions. Try some of these to add humor, pathos, or intrigue.

A to I
angina, beard that reaches to or covers the chest, broken rib, cancer, chest cold, COPD, cough, CPR, crumbs, emphysema, extra nipple, glitter, honey, huge nipples, inflammation

L to W
laceration, mastectomy, mastitis, measuring tape, missing nipple, muscle shirt, nipple piercing, pneumonia, scabs, scar, sequins, tattoos, wart

Clichés and Idioms

Chest … chest … chest … breast … breast … breast …

Excessive repetition? Maybe you’ve incorporated too many clichés and idioms. Try these replacements.

• close to one’s chest: confidential, hush-hush, secret
• strong enough to put hair on one’s chest: powerful, pungent
• to bare one’s breast: admit/show vulnerability
• to beat (on, upon) one’s chest/breast: bewail, lament, mourn, regret
• to get something off one’s chest: admit, confess, reveal
• to make a clean breast of it: admit, confess, reveal
• to take a spear in the chest: admit, concede, confess
• to thump one’s chest: bluster, boast, brag, swagger

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