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Positive Words: Definition, List & Examples  (+PDF)

By Tchiki Davis, MA, PhD
Want to add more positive words to your vocabulary? Not sure which words are positive? No worries. We’ll explore the research here and provide you with a list of positive words. ​
Positive Words: Definition, List & Examples
Did you know that using more positive words may be a simple way to boost positivity? When we use more positive words, we think more positive thoughts and hopefully have more positive interactions (at least we’re not being negative all the time, right?!) So in this article, we’ll talk a bit about the science behind positive words and tell you which words are generally viewed as positive.
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What Are Positive Words? (A Definition)

The extent to which a word is positive is subjective. For example, you might think that “baby” is a positive word but I might not. Despite these differences in opinion, we can get a pretty good sense of which words are positive by asking a whole bunch of people and seeing which words are positive, to most people. And that’s exactly what researchers at the University of Florida did. 

In this massive study, they asked hundreds of people to rank a portion of approximately 600 words from pleasant to unpleasant. They used pictures of a smiling happy figure (pleasant) to a frowning unhappy figure (unpleasant) so that the raters knew what they meant by pleasant and unpleasant (​​Bradley & Lang, 1999). As a result of this study, we now know which words people view as positive (pleasant) and which ones we view as negative (unpleasant).

The opposite of positive words: Negative words
​
At the opposite end of the spectrum from positive words are negative words. Some of the most negatively rated words in the study were death, depression, and loneliness. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that most words fall somewhere in the middle where they are neither very negative nor very positive. These words include things like radiator, shadow, and hairdryer (​​Bradley & Lang, 1999). 

Why Do Positive Words Matter?

When we speak words, we have to think about them first. Then, these words are heard by other people. That means that our words are crucially involved in both our thoughts and our behaviors. These thoughts and behaviors affect how we think about the world—for example, how much we might focus on the positive things. And they affect our interactions with others. 

Interestingly, by strengthening the regions of the brain responsible for positive emotions, thoughts, memories, etc. we may be able to make them stronger. For example, research has shown that having knowledge of something supports memory (Newberry & Bailey, 2019). In other words, when our brains have more information on a topic, the easier it is to remember things related to that topic. By this logic, the more positive information, words, and memories we have related to positive things, the easier it should be to think and act positively.

We also know that training people to focus on the positive over the negative contributes to improvements in well-being (MacLeod, et al., 2002; Wadlinger & Isaacowitz, 2008). One way to do this may be using, memorizing, focusing on, or thinking about positive things more often. Snag our positive word ebook for positive word flashcards to help you strengthen your brain in these ways.
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Examples of Positive Words

According to the research ​​(​​Bradley & Lang, 1999), some of the most positive words include:
  • Grin
  • Lucky
  • Masterful
  • Truth
  • Useful
  • Secure
  • Diamond 
  • Ecstacy

These are just a few examples of positive words. A more comprehensive list of positive words organized by letter is below (​​Bradley & Lang, 1999):

Positive Words That Start With A

Extremely positive words that start with A:
  • acceptance
  • achievement
  • admired
  • adorable
  • affection
  • agreement
  • alive
  • ambition
  • angel
  • applause
  • aroused
Very positive words that start with A:
  • abundance
  • ace
  • advantage
  • agility
  • air
  • alert
  • answer
  • art
  • astonished
  • autumn
  • awed

Positive Words That Start With B

Extremely positive words that start with B:
  • bless
  • blossom
  • bouquet
  • brave
  • bride
  • bright
  • brother
  • butterfly
Very positive words that start with B:
  • ​bake
  • beverage
  • bliss
  • blue
  • bold
  • boy
  • breeze
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​Positive Words That Start With C

Extremely positive words that start with C:
  • cake
  • capable
  • carefree
  • caress
  • cash
  • champion
  • cheer
  • child
  • christmas
  • comedy
  • comfort
  • confident
  • cozy
Very positive words that start with C:
  • candy
  • chance
  • charm
  • chocolate
  • church
  • clouds
  • coin
  • cook
  • cottage
  • crown
  • cuisine
  • curious

​Positive Words That Start With D

Extremely positive words that start with D:
  • dazzle
  • delight
  • desire
  • devoted
  • diamond
  • dignified
Very positive words that start with D:
  • dawn
  • daylight
  • decorate
  • doll
  • dove
  • dream
  • dress

​Positive Words That Start With E

Extremely positive words that start with E:
  • ​earth
  • easy
  • ecstasy
  • elated
  • elegant
  • engaged
  • enjoyment
  • excellence
  • excitement
  • exercise
Very positive words that start with E:
  • education
  • employment
  • event

​Positive Words That Start With F

Extremely positive words that start with F:
  • ​fame
  • family
  • fantasy
  • fascinate
  • festive
  • fireworks
  • flirt
  • food
  • free
  • friendly
Very positive words that start with F:
  • ​face
  • famous
  • favor
  • field
  • fish
  • flag
  • flower
  • fragrance

​Positive Words That Start With G

Extremely positive words that start with G:
  • gentle
  • gift
  • glory
  • gold
  • good
  • graduate
  • greet
  • grin
Very positive words that start with G:
  • game
  • garden
  • girl
  • glamour
  • grass
  • green

​Positive Words That Start With H

Extremely positive words that start with H:
  • handsome
  • happy
  • heal
  • heart
  • heaven
  • holiday
  • home
  • honest
  • honor
  • hopeful
  • hug
  • humor
Very positive words that start with H:
  • health
  • honey
  • hotel
  • humane

​Positive Words That Start With I

Extremely positive words that start with I:
  • idea
  • imagine
  • impressed
  • improve
  • incentive
  • inspired
  • intimate
Very positive words that start with I:
  • ​identity
  • idol
  • infant
  • infatuation
  • innocent
  • inspire
  • intellect
  • interest

​Positive Words That Start With J

Extremely positive words that start with J:
  • jewel
  • joke
  • jolly
  • joy
  • justice
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​Positive Words That Start With K

Extremely positive words that start with K:
  • kindness
  • king
  • kiss
  • knowledge
Very positive words that start with K:
  • kids
  • kitten
​

​Positive Words That Start With L

Extremely positive words that start with L:
  • ​leader
  • learn
  • liberty
  • life
  • lively
  • love
  • loyal
  • lucky
  • luscious
  • luxury
Very positive words that start with L:
  • lake
  • lavish
  • legend
  • leisurely
  • lottery

​Positive Words That Start With M

Extremely positive words that start with M:
  • ​magical
  • masterful
  • melody
  • memories
  • merry
  • millionaire
  • miracle
  • money
  • mother
  • music
Very positive words that start with M:
  • ​mail
  • man
  • memory
  • mighty
  • mind
  • mobility
  • moral
  • mountain
  • movie
  • muffin
  • muscular
  • mystic

​Positive Words That Start With N

Extremely positive words that start with N:
  • nature
Very positive words that start with N:
  • ​​natural
  • nectar
  • nice
  • nourish
  • nurse

​Positive Words That Start With O

Extremely positive words that start with O:
  • ​ocean
  • outdoors
  • outstanding


Very positive words that start with O:
  • opinion
  • optimism
  • option
  • orchestra

​Positive Words That Start With P

Extremely positive words that start with P:
  • palace
  • paradise
  • party
  • passion
  • peace
  • perfection
  • pleasure
  • politeness
  • prestige
  • pretty
  • pride
  • profit
  • progress
  • promotion
  • protected
  • proud
  • puppy
Very positive words that start with P:
  • pancakes
  • pasta
  • patriot
  • penthouse
  • perfume
  • person
  • pet
  • pie
  • pizza
  • powerful
  • present

​Positive Words That Start With Q

Very positive words that start with Q:
  • quality
  • queen
  • quick​

​Positive Words That Start With R

Extremely positive words that start with R:
  • ​refreshment
  • relaxed
  • rescue
  • respect
  • reward
  • riches
  • rollercoaster
  • romantic
Very positive words that start with R:
  • rabbit
  • radiant
  • radio
  • red
  • restaurant
  • reunion
  • river

​Positive Words That Start With S

Extremely positive words that start with S:
  • safe
  • sailboat
  • sapphire
  • satisfied
  • savior
  • scholar
  • secure
  • sky
  • sleep
  • snow
  • snuggle
  • soft
  • song
  • soothe
  • spirit
  • spring
  • star
  • strong
  • success
  • sunlight
  • surprised
  • sweetheart
Very positive words that start with S:
  • saint
  • save
  • silk
  • smooth
  • social
  • space
  • sugar
  • swift

​Positive Words That Start With T

Extremely positive words that start with T:
  • ​talent
  • terrific
  • thoughtful
  • thrill
  • toy
  • treasure
  • treat
  • triumph
  • truth
  • twilight
Very positive words that start with T:
  • ​taste
  • tender
  • thankful
  • thought
  • tidy
  • tree
  • trust
  • tune

​Positive Words That Start With U

Extremely positive words that start with U:
  • ​untroubled
  • useful

​Positive Words That Start With V

​Extremely positive words that start with V:
  • vacation
  • valentine
  • victory
Very positive words that start with V:
  • virtue
  • vision
  • voyage

​Positive Words That Start With W

​Extremely positive words that start with W:
  • warmth
  • waterfall
  • wealthy
  • wedding
  • win
  • wise
  • wish
  • wit

*Sorry, none of the X words in this data set were positive.
Very positive words that start with W:
  • water
  • wife
  • wink
  • woman
  • wonder
  • world

​​Positive Words That Start With Y

Very positive words that start with Y:
  • ​yacht
  • young
  • youth

​​Positive Words That Start With Z

Very positive words that start with Z:
  • ​zest

Downloadable List of Positive Words (+PDF)

And here is downloadable lists of these positive words.
positive-words-spreadsheet.xlsx
File Size: 11 kb
File Type: xlsx
Download File

positive-words.pdf
File Size: 118 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Ways to Use These Positive Words

If you need ways to integrate these positive words into your daily life and retrain your brain for more positivity, here are a few ideas.
  • Get our positive word flashcards. Play games with these flashcards—games like Memory or matching the first part of the word to the second part of the word.
  • Use these words in affirmations. By repeating positive affirmations, you help shift your thinking and beliefs in ways that boost positivity.
  • Use these words while journaling. Start a daily journal and be sure to write about your positive thoughts and emotions. You could even start a gratitude journal and record all the things you’re thankful for.
  • Update your passwords to include your favorite positive words. That way, you’ll be forced to use positive words every time you sign into a device or app.
  • Write positive words on sticky notes. Place these notes in places you’ll see them regularly so that your brain has to think of these positive words more often.
  • Find quotes with positive words. Frame these quotes or use them as your screensaver to get inspired by your positive word list.
  • Create a vision board. Use your favorite positive words on a vision board that maps out what you want to manifest in your life.
  • Do positive meditations. Listen to or watch mediation videos that guide you through thinking about more positive things.

Video: Powerful Positive Words For The Morning

Quotes With Positive Words

Here are a few quotes that include the positive words above:
  • “Luck is believing you’re lucky.” —Unknown
  • “The most beautiful thing you can be is yourself.” —Barbie
  • “Happiness comes in waves. It’ll find you again.” —Unknown
  • “The future is bright.” —Unknown
  • “There is peace even in the storm.” —Vincent Van Gogh

More Articles Related to Positive Words

If you want to keep exploring positive words and other ways to boost positivity, here are a few more articles to check out.
  • Positive Emotions: List, 90+ Examples, Theories, & Tips
  • Loving-Kindness Meditation: Guided Meditations and Scripts
  • Daily Affirmations: 102 Powerful Affirmations to Improve Your Life

Books On Positive Words

Want to read more? Here are some good books that can help you work more with positive words:
  • The Power of Positive Words: What You Say Makes a Difference​
  • Positive Words, Powerful Results: Simple Ways to Honor, Affirm, and Celebrate Life
  • 100PCS Positive Word Stickers

    Positive Words Activity ​

    Here's an activity to start you on your journey to using more positive words in your life. 
    Note. Submitting your responses helps us to better understand people's behavior. If you want to keep your responses, you'll have to save to PDF or print this page. Thanks!
Submit

Final Thoughts on Positive Words

Using positive words in your thoughts and communication can be an easy way to start developing a positivity habit. Hopefully, the guidance and lists provided here will help you take action and start using these words more in your daily life.

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References

  • Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1999). Affective norms for English words (ANEW): Instruction manual and affective ratings (Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 25-36). Technical report C-1, the center for research in psychophysiology, University of Florida.
  • MacLeod, C., Rutherford, E., Campbell, L., Ebsworthy, G., & Holker, L. (2002). Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias. Journal of abnormal psychology, 111(1), 107.
  • Newberry, K. M., & Bailey, H. R. (2019). Does semantic knowledge influence event segmentation and recall of text?. Memory & cognition, 47(6), 1173-1187.
  • Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2008). Looking happy: The experimental manipulation of a positive visual attention bias. Emotion, 8(1), 121.​
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