A. Intellectual ability

• lots of ability: intelligent, bright, clever, sharp, shrewd, able, gifted, talented, brainy (informal)
• lacking ability: stupid, foolish, simple, silly, brainless, daft, dumb, dim, thick
  (the last five are predominantly informal words, and they can all be offensive)
• clever, in a negative way, using brains to trick or deceive: cunning, crafty, sly

B. Attitudes towards life

Amal is pessimistic while Nia is optimistic – he always expects the worst to happen while she looks on the bright side.

It is strange that one of the twins is so extroverted while the other is so introverted – Ben loves being the focus of attention while Jake prefers to be alone with his thoughts.

I feel very tense (or wound up / stressed out**) after a very busy day at work but, after a hot bath, I’ll soon feel relaxed.

Eva is very sensible – she’d never do anything stupid. In other words, she’s very practical and down-to-earth.

Roberto is very sensitive – he gets very upset (or worked-up, more informal), if he feels people are criticising him.

C. Attitude towards other people

• Enjoying others’ company: sociable, gregarious*
• Disagreeing with others: quarrelsome, argumentative
• Taking pleasure in others’ pain: cruel, sadistic
• Relaxed in attitude to self and others: easy-going, even-tempered, laid-back**
• Not polite to others: impolite, rude, ill-mannered, discourteous*
• Telling the truth to others: honest, trustworthy, reliable, sincere
• Unhappy if others have what you do not have yourself: jealous, envious

D. One person’s meat is another person’s poison

Some characteristics can be either positive or negative depending on your point of view. The words in the right-hand column mean roughly the same as the words in the left-hand column except that they have negative rather than positive connotations.

* These words are much more common in written than in spoken English.
** These words are much more common in spoken than in written English.