Sensory Words To Take Your Writing From Bland To Brilliant
Welcome to our massive list of sensory words your comprehensive resource for adding vivid sensory details to your prose.
Its almost too easy.
By using sensory words to evoke the sense of sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers mind.
In this post, youll learn:
- The science behind sensory details
- The definition of sensory details
- How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive details that pack your content with sensory language
- 500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own vocabulary and writing .
Lets dive in.
Types Of Sensory Words
Sensory words can evoke any of the five senses. Words like short, tall, ruddy, gray, misshapen, elegant and dusty all express a physical or emotional characteristic — each is something you can see. Sensory words that describe something you hear could include muffled, distorted, pop, ping or roar. Words that relate to touch include soft, rough or smooth, while words related to taste include salty, sweet or bitter. Smell words include rancid, fragrant or smoky.
What Do You Hear
We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when were trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.
Want to transplant readers into your literary world?
Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.
Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.
Describe the awful music coming from your next-door neighbors house.
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The Massive Sensory Words List: 583 Descriptive Words To Supercharge Your Writing With Sensory Language
Once youve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.
In time, youll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work .
But in the meantime, heres my list.
Bookmark them.
Freebie:
Use them often:
Sensory Language: The Power Of Sensory Words In Business Writing
Using sensory words is a way for a writer to help the reader see or connect with an image, description, action, or scene. When it comes to business, sensory language is a powerful tool to persuade your readers to do what you want. Basically, sensory language writing connects the five humans senses in order to help the reader to imagine a description, scene, action or image. You may think that sensory words are only for artists like poets for example. Thats totally false. You have to take advantage of sensory language in order to captivate your business audience. Creating an image with sensory words draws the reader close to you. These words add a bit of flavor to your writing. This guide will teach you how to make your writing pop by using sensory details.Let me explain what I mean!
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Are You Ready To Unleash The Power Of Sensory Details
Its time to say goodbye.
Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.
Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.
You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.
Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, its true:
People may forget what you said, but theyll never forget how you made them feel.
Its time to make your readers feel.
Are you ready?
Stimulate The Sense Of Sound
Sensory switch: Can you hear the sound of?
Talk about the particular sound of the thing youre focused on. Paint a visceral picture.
Instead of saying something like, Can you imagine them being hungry? replace it with, Can you hear the rumble of their empty stomachs?
And instead of the phrase, Imagine everyone celebrating around you, try saying, Can you hear the trumpets blowing and the people clapping?
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Did That Tickle Your Brain
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Where The Sensory Words Technique Began
My professor, like most art teachers, encouraged us to go outside, find scenes of interest, sit and draw them in our drawing books with charcoal.
Of course, by this time, we already had the lesson about understanding how to use the shades for charcoal drawing.
What I didnt realize at the time that I notice now is we were using sensory language in the form of art and writing. The artwork isnt complete without a description or explanation.
She monitored our process in class. Gave us lots of practice time with different still life charcoal drawing activities.
A similar experience took place during my Advanced Creative Writing class.
We visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
At the time, our class covered poetry writing. We had freedom in the museum to visit different exhibits.
The instruction was to meet back with a written poem from a piece that truly resonated with us.
I remember sitting in front of the piece Autumn Rhythm by Jackson Pollock one of my absolute favorites might I add.
And, I wrote a poem explaining my interpretation of this unique artwork. When compared to his other works of art, Pollock uses less vibrant colors for this piece.
It put me in the mood of jazz improvisations and in the mind of Toni Morrisons writing advice. She says its good to have a jazz-like style to your writing. This means your writings demonstrate no restraints.
This poem ended up published in my colleges magazine.
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Words In The Sand Multi Sensory Sight Words
In this activity, your child finds hidden words on seashells in the sand to encourage your child to learn to read. Players quickly memorize each word by writing it into the sand in a texture-rich experience. This multi sensory sight words game is designed to engage childrens senses as they learn their sight words!
Materials
- 2 plastic containers or trays
Directions to Make
Directions to Play
Game Variations
- Create letters in the sand for younger players to discover and write.
- Form words from letter shells in the sand and write them in the sand container.
- Write numbers on the shells for players to discover and write.
Future Pacing With Sensory Words
You may already know that its crucial to mention the benefits of your product. Features state what a product does, but the benefits explain what that means to you.
But you know whats even more powerful?
If you describe what its like to experience the benefits of your product.
I wont get enthusiastic about seeing 4 GB of RAM until you explain to me that it makes my new phone run incredibly fast, allows me to use many heavy apps at the same time and makes it capable to run powerful games smoothly.
You can even make them experience getting the package delivered to the door and how the product will feel in their hands:
Once the package arrives and you slide your portable charger out of the box, youll immediately notice how heavy this portable charger is. It will assure you right away that this is a sturdy product built to last. We made it this way so it can withstand every situation you put it through. It will easily survive a drop because of its thick rubber surface. It is even water resistant, giving you peace of mind knowing youll always be able to charge your devices.
Heres something else to think about: the subconscious mind cant distinguish the difference between real and imagined experiences.
So if you make your reader imagine what its like to use your product, they have already experienced what its like to use your product.
Amazing, isnt it?
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Sensory Details Will Captivate Your Audience
Yes, we all hate a bad book or blogging article. You can decide on which side you are, use the same words as everybody else or release your inner poet and pick your words with care and precision. . When writing sensory details, remember to stay within the realm of the known. Fake sensory details, such as those from another planet, leave the reader unable to relate to anything they have experienced. When writing, use sensory details that people can relate to something.
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Reflecting The Sense Preference
As with any communication, if youreflect back to a person those things that they prefer, then they will pay even more attention to these things than others.
Using their preferred sense channel will also make you appear to be morelike them and hence create abond with them and consequently gain their trust.
A Final Word On The Sensory Words List
Sensory words are powerful words because they draw the reader into what you are writing. If you are struggling to make your writing interesting, consider using the Thesaurus to add more of these sensory words to your writing efforts. Soon you will find that your work comes alive when the reader is reading about gurgling and glittering details.
Of course, balance is key here. You can overdo your use of these words and make your piece wordy and difficult to read. But a sprinkling of words from this sensory words list can be a good addition.
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Sensory Words For Sight
Get past ugly and beautiful when describing what a character sees. You might also consider words that express the opposite of sight such as dark words. If you need more choices for sensory language that describes the appearance of things, there are lots of wonderful words in the English language. For example:
|
Beautiful Sight Words |
|
unsightly wrinkled |
Many of these words depend on the item you are describing. Words like filthy and misshapen are excellent ways to describe both an unlikeable person and a lumpy couch. However, while words like flashy and gaudy have negative connotations, they might not present the same undesirable picture.
Sensory Words And Phrases To Spice Up Your Sales Pitch In 2021
People have a preference for one of three primary senses in their communication: Sight, sound, or feeling. These innate biases make them more respond more favorably to visual, auditory, or kinesthetic language.
Speaking your prospect’s preferred language facilitates rapport building, making you easier to trust. Therefore, word choice is critical in sales.Youve heard prospects use phrases such as It looks good to me or It sounds good to me or It feels good to me .
These phrases, and others like them, provide useful information on the buyer’s thinking process and give you insights on how to communicate more precisely and persuasively. This is especially valuable in inside sales where non-verbal feedback is absent.
Once you determine which primary sense the prospect is most comfortable with, you can focus on word choice to make a better verbal connection.
Heres a brief list of sensory words and phrases that can help you grab and hold your buyer’s attention more effectively.
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Sensory Analysis Word Bank
Subject: Design, engineering and technology
Age range: 14-16
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Ways To Brighten Up Your Writing Our Sensory Words List
Sensory words help your writing work better and engage the reader by capturing all of their senses. This sensory words list will help you choose some good ones.
Sensory words are words that add sensory details to your writing. These words bring in your senses and help the reader better picture the scene, even feeling as if they are a player in the world unfolding on the page.
Using these types of descriptive words in your writing makes it richer and more engaging. They add personality and flavor to your content, and also help the details you want to stand out. This sensory words list will help you find the right one that will make your work stand out in a sea of voices.
Contents
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What Do You See
It isnt enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.
What shade of gray was it?
Were the doors boarded up?
Precisely how many ghostly figures did you and the neighbor kids see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?
Paint a mental picture for your readers.
Sensory Details: Examples In The Wild
Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:
How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content
Would you click it?
Could you read the headline without falling asleep?
The answers are probably no and heck no.
Now imagine you saw this headline:
Much better, right?
The simple addition of the sensory word cringeworthy changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, youre thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really dont want to relive.
Lets look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:
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Using Sensory Words Beyond The Sense Of Sight
Foraging baboons. What do they sound like, smell like? Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons
I have searched the Internet for examples of improving sentences using sensory words. Most of the sputtering before sentences fail to convey a sense of sight. I suppose most lazy writers dont even think of describing other senses.
Maybe instead of writing a dull verb, a gossip cackles in glee to share the latest tidbit. And remember someones loud tie. Words related to hearing can describe something else besides sounds.
Likewise, words that convey texture or other aspects of the sense of touch apply to more than feeling. The smooth talker and the coarse jester are probably not the same person, and you might not want to reach out and touch either of them.
Feeling, by the way, can mean either physical sensations of touch or an emotional state. Search for power words and you can find numerous lists that include hundreds of them.
Someone else compiled a mammoth list of sensory words. He also shows how to use them not only in the body of your writing but in flavorful email subject lines and social media profiles.
I began this post contrasting bland and insipid writing with tasty. Now, let me say that using sensory language gives your writing the fragrance of the living instead of the odor of dead prose.
The Ravenby Edgar Allan Poe
In this haunting poem, which is surely Poes most famous example of verse, his use of sensory language is interesting. Without this imagery, the poem would lose its disturbing and most memorable qualities. Consider the vivid descriptions in these lines:
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrowsorrow for the lost Lenore
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore
Nameless here for evermore.
This is the second stanza of the poem. Among other devices, Poe uses image-rich words like bleak December,dying ember, and radiant to create a very clear scene. Readers are left wondering about the speaker, his mental state, the raven, and whats going to happen next in Poes world.
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