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

Brevity or Verbal Diarrhea?

Some authors fill multiple paragraphs when describing each character.

Stephen King’s advice: “Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Overdescription buries him or her in details and images.”

Romance, science fiction, or fantasy usually requires more description than a whodunit. The writer’s duty when describing characters is to compromise between the desire to depict every wrinkle, and the need to keep readers engaged.

This post provides ways to describe bodies and physiques. Well-chosen words create vivid imagery without slowing action or boring readers.

You may notice a few unfamiliar descriptors in the mini lists that follow. It is definitesolutely permitted to create new words, even (oh, the blasphemy!) adverbs.

Weight: Above-Average

Proceed with caution. Many of these terms are pejorative and may alienate readers if not used wisely.

For example, a school bully might describe his latest victim as porky, but a husband should keep such opinions to himself, unless those opinions appear via internal monologue — an excellent way for a writer to reveal a character’s true sentiments.

A to F
ample, baggy, baggy-figured, beer-bellied, big-bellied, big-boned, bloated, blubbery, broad, bulging, bulky, chubby, chunky, corpulent, cumbersome, curvaceous, dimpled, doughy, dumpy, elephantine, fat, fatso, flabby, fleshy, full-figured

G to R
generously padded, generously proportioned, gross, heavily built, heavy, heavy-set, hefty, Humpty Dumptyish, large, large-boned, matronly, obese, overheavy, overweight, paunchy, plump, podgy, ponderous, porky, portly, potbellied, pudgy, puffy, roly-poly

S to W
sloppy, squat, stocky, stout, sumoesque, swollen, thick, thickset, tubby, ungainly, unwieldly, weighty, well-fed, well-padded, well-rounded, wide

Weight: At or Below-Average

Several of the adjectives in this section could also appear in the Height: Tall area. For example: beanstalk and lanky.

A to R
aerodynamic, angular, beanstalk, bony, delicate, fine-boned, gangly, lank, lanky, lean, lissome, lithe, meager of body, narrow, rawboned

S to W
scraggy, scrawny, sinuous, skeletal, skin-and-bone, skinny, sleek, slender, slight, slightly-built, slim, small-boned, spare, spindly, spiny, streamlined, stringy, svelte, sylphlike, thin, trim, underdeveloped, underweight, waif-like, willowy, wiry, wispy

Physical Condition: Good

Pay attention to nuances. Muscle-bound, for example, might indicate that your character has overworked his or her muscles into a state of inflexibility.

A to L
active, athletic, beefy, brawny, built, bullish, bullnecked, burly, defined, dense, developed, durable, firm, fit, hale, hard, hardy, healthy, Herculean, hulking, hunky, husky, in shape, limber, lusty

M to R
meaty, mesomorphic, mighty, muscle-bound, muscular, nimble, pliant, powerful, powerfully built, resilient, ripped, robust, rugged

S to W
shipshape, shredded, sinewy, solid, sound, stalwart [dated], strapping, strong, sturdy, substantial, supple, taut, toned, tough, vigorous, well-built

Physical Condition: Poor

Note: in Great Britain, ropy indicates poor quality or health, whereas in North America, it’s more likely to mean strong or fibrous.

A to F
ailing, anorexic, atrophied, battered, beat-up, brittle, broken, bruised, burnt, cadaverous, careworn, crippled, crooked, crumbling, decomposed, decrepit, deformed, degenerating, deteriorating, dilapidated, emaciated, etiolated, feeble, feverish, flimsy, fragile, frail, frangible

G to R
gaunt, haggard, half-starved, infirm, insubstantial, lethargic, maimed, malnourished, mangled, neglected, out-of-shape, puny, ramshackle, rickety, ropy, rotting, runty

S to W
scalded, sickly, starved, underfed, undernourished, vulnerable, wasted, weak, weedy, withered, worn-out

Shape

Look around you. Pick an object. Could you include it as a body shape? A woman might have a chest flatter than your thesaurus, or perhaps your male protagonist resembles your upside-down wastebasket.

B to R
barrel-chested, barrelesque, blocky, boobylicious, bootylicious, broad-shouldered, bulbous, cylindrical, ectomorphic, endomorphic, flat, hourglass-shaped, inverted-triangular, limp, mesomorphic, pear-shaped, pumpkinesque, pyramidal, rectangular, rotund, round

S to W
serpentine, shapeless, shapely, small-waisted, spherical, spidery, square, thick-waisted, top-heavy, triangular, wasp-waisted

Height: Short

Let’s include that wastebasket again: knee-high to a wastebasket. Scrutinize your surroundings to create fresh phrases.

B to R
belly-button-high, bijou, compact, dainty, diminutive, dwarfish, eensy, elfin, gnomish, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, knee-high, knee-high to a wastebasket, knee-high to a pygmy, Lilliputian, little, low-slung, midget, mini, miniature, packed-down, peewee, petite, pint-sized, pocket-sized, puny, pygmy, runty

S to W
sawed-off, shoulder-high, shrimpy, shriveled, shrunken, small, small in stature, small-scale, stubby, stunted, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny, undersized, vertically challenged, waist-high, wee

Height: Tall

Most people know that redwoods are tall, ergo, redwood-high. With a bit of acerbic word play, a tall Polish stripper might be referred to as stripper-pole-ific.

B to L
big, biggish, colossal, gangling, gargantuan, giant, gigantic, ginormous, Goliath, huge, humongous, immense, jumbo, king-sized, large, leggy, lofty, longish, long-shanked

M to W
mammoth, massive, mountain-high, of great stature, rangy, redwood-high, sizable, sky-high, skyscraperesque, statuesque, stripper-pole-ific, towering, whopping

More Adjectives: Flattering

Many words that describe skin also function well as body descriptors.

A to P
alluring, awe-inspiring, busty, buxom, carved, chaste, chesty, chiseled, comely [dated], cooperative, curvy, delectable, endless, eye-catching, formidable, graceful, handsome, holy, imposing, majestic, neat, nubile, perfect

S to Y
sculpted, seductive, sensuous, sexy, shapely, slinky, stacked, stately, statuesque, stunning, symmetrical, voluptuous, well-endowed, well-proportioned, youthful

More Adjectives: Unflattering

You’ll find additional pejorative terms here. Choose with care.

A to R
awkward, corpse-like, foul-smelling, furry, girlie-girl, gnarled, grotesque, hairy, hideous, humpbacked, hunchbacked, hunched, lumpy, malformed, milquetoast, misshapen, monstrous, neckless, pantywaist, pigeon-chested, powerless, revolting, round-shouldered

S to W
scarred, shaggy, shoulderless, slack, slouched, soulless, stooped, twisted, unresponsive, unwashed, unwilling, unyielding, wimpy, wizened, wooden, wrinkled

More Adjectives: Other

Is that lifeless figure a woman pretending to be asleep, or is she dead? Is your male protagonist’s body really afire, or is he burning with desire?

Maybe you could write a short story that leads readers astray via adjectives with multiple connotations.

A to H
afire, aflame, bare, boyish, bullnecked, coltish, effeminate, expectant, familiar, feminine, girlish, gravid, hairless, headless

I to W
inert, inexperienced, inflexible, knocked-up, leathery, lifeless, limp, loose-jointed, masculine, nude, pregnant, primitive, rigid, stiff, unclad, unclothed, undeveloped, weather-beaten

Colors

A to Y
anemic, ashen, black-and-blue, bronzed, chocolate, coffee, copper, dappled, freckled, golden, grey, jaundiced, pale, pallid, pasty, pink, purple, red, ruddy, sunburnt, swarthy, tanned, tawny, wan, yellow

See the Color/Tone section of 300+ Words to Describe Skin for more color possibilities.

Similes

Some of the following are cliché, but they provide seeds for new ideas. A character might be built like:

a bag of doughnuts
a Barbie Doll
a battleship
a boar
a bulldog
a Cadillac
a cannon
a centerfold
a cheerleader
a coiled cobra
a fairy
a feather pillow
a grizzly
a gymnast
a Ken Doll
a linebacker
a military action figure
a moose
an ox
a panther
a pixie
a Porsche
the Rock of Gibraltar
a refrigerator
a shark
a stick
a straw
a tank
a thoroughbred

Metaphors

Here are a few more seeds to stimulate your imagination. Compare your character’s physique to:

a blimp
a book of countless pages
a bottle of fine wine
concrete
a crime scene
an enigma
a fairyland
a ferret
forbidden fruit
a fortress
a fragrant meadow
an ice palace
a machine
a mannequin
a marionette
a masterpiece
a maze
a mystery
a nightmare
a nunnery
a prison
a rag doll
a riddle
a rose, complete with thorns
a secret fantasy
a sewer
a snare
a trap
unattainable dreams
uncharted waters
an unreachable star
a watermelon
a weapon
a weasel
a wet dream
a wonderland
a work in progress