descriptive language
Words painting pictures
Descriptive language uses vivid, specific words to create sensory impressions—appealing to sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch.
Rather than stating The house was old, descriptive language might offer The house sagged under peeling paint and rotting eaves.
The term appears most often in writing instruction, where students learn to show rather than tell.
- detailedFull of specifics
- illustrativeServing to explain
- show don't tellWriting principle favoring demonstration
- specificClearly defined, not vague
- vividIntensely clear and bright
sensory details · metaphorical · atmospheric · sensory · imagery · word painting · rhetorical devices · turn of phrase · allegorical · analogical · literary devices · word choice · symbolic · tone · nuanced · poignant · tactile · scene-setting
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- color termsblack, white, red, blue, green
- color wordsred, blue, gold, white, green
- Imagery Typesvisual imagery, sensory detail, nature imagery
- neutral language