tone-style descriptors (language words)

  • Artificial: made by humans to seem natural

  • Bombastic: words given exaggerated importance by artificial or empty means

  • Colloquial: familiar or informal conversation;  casual

  • Concrete: naming a real thing (poem is concrete, poetry is abstract)

  • Connotative: relating to connotation

  • Cultured: produced under artificial conditions

  • Detached: free from prejudice or self-interest; not-caring; cold

  • Emotional: relating to emotion; prone to emotion; arousing emotion

  • Esoteric: difficult to understand; designed for a specific person/people to understand.

  • Euphemistic: politer way of saying something (passed away instead of died)

  • Exact: precise; detailed

  • Figurative: does not use a word's strict or realistic meaning

  • Formal: done in accordance with the rules

  • Grotesque: comically or repulsively ugly or distorted

  • Homespun: homemade; simple/unsophisticated

  • Idiomatic: peculiar to a particular group, individual, style (up in the air instead of undecided)

  • Informal: absence of formality/ceremony 

  • Insipid: lacking in qualities that interest (or lacking in taste/flavor) 

  • Jargon: terms of a specific activity or group; showy language

  • Learned: having much knowledge acquired by study/learning

  • Literal: free from exaggeration

  • Moralistic: having a moral attitude; expressive of a concern with morality

  • Obscure: dark/dim; not clear or easily understood/distinguished; remote/secluded; not famous

  • Obtuse: lacking sharpness; insensitive; stupid

  • Ordinary: routine; usual

  • Pedantic: unimaginative; dull; being a perfectionist who makes a big deal out of knowing obscure facts/details

  • Picturesque: suggesting a painted scene; charming in appearance

  • Plain: undecorated; pure

  • Poetic: relating to poetry or having the qualities of poetry (aesthetic/emotional impact)

  • Precise: exactly/sharply defined or stated; strictly conforming to a pattern

  • Pretentious: acting like ur more important/knowledgeable than u actually are

  • Provincial: belonging to a province outside the city; limited in outlook/lacking the polish of urban society

  • Scholarly: serious student; learned; academic

  • Sensuous: appealing to the senses

  • Simple: innocent; modest; easy; uncomplicated

  • Slang: informal language that's often vulgar

  • Symbolic: using, employing, or exhibiting a symbol (representing something abstract)

  • Trite: boring from too much use, not fresh or original

  • Vulgar: distasteful, morally crude or gross, offensive; general/common; pretentious