583 Sensory Words to Make Your Writing Come Alive

It’s almost too easy.

Use sensory words that tap into sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, and your writing bursts to life in your reader’s mind.

And in this guide, I’ll show you how they work, how to use them without overdoing it, and how to turn flat writing into something readers can actually experience.

The power of sensory details

Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?

You can smell the grass on the field.

You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.

And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.

(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)

Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.

The scene creates such a vivid sensory experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.

Here’s why:

When you paint a strong scene in your reader’s imagination, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.

That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.

And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with power words that evoke the senses:

“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial”
— William Shakespeare (circa 1599)

In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory writing. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.

And that begs the obvious question…

Why do sensory words work?

Short answer:

The brains of human beings handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.

In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible” (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.

And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.

In other words:

So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.

Now let’s break down the different types:

1. Sight words

Sight words are related to vision and describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).

Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.

He was a towering presence.

I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.

2. Sound words

Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.

He had a big, booming voice.

The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.

As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.

3. Touch words

Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.

Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.

With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.

The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.

4. Taste words

Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, and tease your taste buds with their deliciousness, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.

It’s a bittersweet situation.

Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.

The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.

5. Smell words

Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.

The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.

No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.

The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.

Next, we’ll look at a few real-world examples of sensory details.

Sensory words in action

Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:

How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content

Would you click it?

Better question…

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, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.

Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:

Using sensory words in author bios

I’ll pick on me for this one.

Here’s one of my old author bios:

Kevin J. Duncan is the Editor of Smart Blogger, where he helps writers learn the skills they need to land writing gigs that pay.

Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for 25+ Miracle Cures for Writer’s Block:

Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.

My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).

Henneke’s is chock full of them.

Her bio is interesting.

Mine is boring.

The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.

Using sensory words in social media profiles

Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.

But if you want your X profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.

Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:

“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.

Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.

Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.

They deserve to be seen.

Using sensory words in introductions

The opening lines of your content are so important.

If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).

If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying (and reading) your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).

And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening sentence can hook the reader’s interest (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.

It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.

Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.

Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this blog post) focus on searcher intent.

And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:

Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.

In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer, Starting from Scratch, Jon Morrow uses figurative language to set a scene for the reader.

And it’s highly, highly effective.

Using sensory words in email subject lines

Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.

And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:

• Emojis;
• Capitalized words;
• All lowercase letters;
• Two exclamation points;
• Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”

You name it, people are trying it.

Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?

Add a sensory detail.

Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:

The folks at BDOW! (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.

Here’s one example:

And descriptive language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.

In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:

Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…

Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding figurative language to your own writing style a breeze:

How to add sensory details to your writing

If you’ve taken a good English or creative writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”

This means you should create an engaging experience for your target audience, not just tell them what you want them to know.

You accomplish this by using descriptive writing that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).

And how do you do that, exactly?

Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:

What do you see?

It isn’t 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 sensory 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 image for your readers.

What do you hear?

We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re 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 neighbor’s house.

How does it feel?

Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.

Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?

Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.

The same goes for emotion. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.

What does it taste like?

Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?

Tell your audience.

Be descriptive.

Make them taste the fishiness.

What does it smell like?

It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.

And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.

Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.

So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.

The sensory words list (583 and counting)

Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will start adding sensory words naturally.

In time, you’ll build your own list of sensory words you can come back to (no thesaurus needed).

But in the meantime, here’s mine.

Bookmark it.

Print it.

Use it when you need it:

185 sight words

Angular	Little
Azure	Lofty
Billowy	Long
Black	Low
Bleary	Malnourished
Bloated	Maroon
Blonde	Massive
Blue	Miniature
Blurred	Misshapen
Blushing	Misty
Branching	Motionless
Bright	Mottled
Brilliant	Mountainous
Broad	Muddy
Brown	Murky
Brunette	Narrow
Bulbous	Obtuse
Bulky	Olive
Camouflaged	Opaque
Chubby	Orange
Circular	Oval
Colorful	Pale
Colorless	Peered
Colossal	Petite
Contoured	Pink
Cosmic	Portly
Craggy	Pristine
Crimson	Prodigious
Crinkled	Purple
Crooked	Quaint
Crowded	Radiant
Crystalline	Rectangular
Curved	Red
Dark	Reddish
Dazzling	Rippling
Deep	Rotund
Dim	Round
Dingy	Ruby
Disheveled	Ruddy
Distinct	Rusty
Drab	Sabotaged
Dreary	Shadowy
Dull	Shallow
Dusty	Shapeless
Elegant	Sheer
Enchanting	Shimmering
Engaging	Shiny
Enormous	Short
Faded	Silver
Fancy	Skinny
Fat	Small
Filthy	Smudged
Flashy	Soaring
Flat	Sparkling
Flickering	Sparkly
Foggy	Spherical
Forked	Spotless
Freckled	Spotted
Fuzzy	Square
Gargantuan	Steep
Gaudy	Stormy
Gigantic	Straight
Ginormous	Strange
Glamorous	Striped
Gleaming	Sunny
Glimpse	Swooping
Glistening	Tall
Glitter	Tapering
Glittering	Tarnished
Globular	Teeny-tiny
Gloomy	Tiny
Glossy	Towering
Glowing	Translucent
Gold	Transparent
Graceful	Triangular
Gray	Turquoise
Green	Twinkling
Grotesque	Twisted
Hazy	Ugly
Hollow	Unsightly
Homely	Unusual
Huge	Vibrant
Illuminated	Vivid
Immense	Weird
Indistinct	White
Ivory	Wide
Knotty	Wiry
Lacy	Wispy
Lanky	Wizened
Large	Wrinkled
Lavender	Wrinkly
Lean	Yellow
Lithe

161 sound words

Babble	Noisy
Bang	Peeping
Barking	Piercing
Bawled	Ping
Bawling	Pinging
Bellow	Plopping
Blare	Pop
Blaring	Purring
Bleat	Quacking
Boom	Quiet
Booming	Rant
Bray	Rapping
Buzz	Rasping
Buzzing	Raucous
Cackle	Rave
Cackling	Ringing
Chatter	Roar
Chattering	Roaring
Cheer	Rumble
Chiming	Rumbling
Chirping	Rustle
Chuckle	Rustling
Clamor	Scratching
Clang	Scream
Clanging	Screaming
Clap	Screech
Clapping	Screeching
Clicking	Serene
Clink	Shout
Clinking	Shouting
Cooing	Shrieking
Coughing	Shrill
Crackle	Sigh
Crackling	Silent
Crashing	Sing
Creak	Singing
Croaking	Sizzling
Crow	Slam
Crunch	Slamming
Crunching	Snap
Crunchy	Snappy
Cry	Snoring
Crying	Snort
Deafening	Splashing
Distorted	Squawking
Dripping	Squeaky
Ear-piercing	Stammer
Earsplitting	Stomp
Exploding	Storm
Faint	Stuttering
Fizzing	Tearing
Gagging	Thudding
Gasping	Thump
Giggle	Thumping
Giggling	Thunder
Grate	Thundering
Grating	Ticking
Growl	Tingling
Grumble	Tinkling
Grunt	Twitter
Grunting	Twittering
Guffaw	Wail
Gurgle	Warbling
Gurgling	Wheezing
Hanging	Whimper
Hiss	Whimpering
Hissing	Whine
Honking	Whining
Howl	Whir
Hubbub	Whisper
Hum	Whispering
Humming	Whistle
Hush	Whooping
Jabber	Yell
Jangle	Yelp
Jangling	Mumble
Laughing	Mumbling
Moaning	Murmur
Monotonous	Mutter
Mooing	Muttering
Muffled

123 touch words

Abrasive	Lightweight
Balmy	Limp
Biting	Lukewarm
Boiling	Lumpy
Breezy	Matted
Bristly	Metallic
Bubbly	Moist
Bubby	Mushy
Bumpy	Numbing
Burning	Oily
Bushy	Plastic
Chilled	Pointed
Chilly	Powdery
Clammy	Pulpy
Coarse	Rocky
Cold	Rough
Cool	Rubbery
Cottony	Sandy
Crawly	Scalding
Creepy	Scorching
Cuddly	Scratchy
Cushioned	Scummy
Damp	Serrated
Dank	Shaggy
Dirty	Sharp
Downy	Shivering
Drenched	Shivery
Dry	Silky
Elastic	Slimy
Feathery	Slippery
Feverish	Sloppy
Fine	Smooth
Fleshy	Smothering
Fluff	Soapy
Fluffy	Soft
Foamy	Sopping
Fragile	Soupy
Freezing	Splintery
Furry	Spongy
Glassy	Springy
Gluey	Sputter
Gooey	Squashy
Grainy	Squeal
Greasy	Squishy
Gritty	Steamy
Gushy	Steely
Hairy	Sticky
Heavy	Stifled
Hot	Stifling
Humid	Stinging
Ice-Cold	Stony
Icy	Stubby
Itchy	Tangled
Knobbed	Tapered
Leathery	Tender
Light	Tepid
Unsanitary	Thick
Velvety	Thin
Warm	Thorny
Waxy	Tickling
Wet	Tough
Woolly

51 taste words

Acidic	Palatable
Appetizing	Peppery
Bitter	Pickled
Bittersweet	Piquant
Bland	Raw
Buttery	Refreshing
Charred	Rich
Contaminated	Ripe
Creamy	Salty/Salted
Crispy	Savory
Delectable	Scrumptious
Delicious	Stale
Doughy	Sugary
Earthy	Syrupy
Fermented	Tangy
Flavorful	Tart
Flavorless	Tasteless
Floury	Unripe
Garlicky	Vinegary
Gingery	Yummy
Gritty	Zesty
Hearty	Melted
Juicy	Nauseating
Luscious	Nutritious
Medicinal	Nutty
Mellow

47 smell words (plus 16 taste and smell words)

Ambrosial	Odiferous
Antiseptic	Odor
Aroma	Odorless
Aromatic	Old
Briny	Perfumed
Citrusy	Piney
Decayed	Polluted
Decomposed	Pungent
Doggy	Putrid
Fetid	Rancid
Floral	Rank
Flowery	Redolent
Foul-smelling	Reeking
Fragrant	Scent
Gamy	Scented
Gaseous	Sickly
Horrid	Skunky
Inodorous	Smell
Malodorous	Smoky
Mephitic	Stagnant
Musky	Stench
Musty	Stinky
Acrid	Sweaty
Burnt	Tempting
Fishy	Whiff
Fresh	Salty
Fruity	Sour
Lemony	Spicy
Minty	Spoiled
Moldy	Sweet
Mouth-watering	Tantalizing
Rotten

Start using sensory details

Sensory details aren’t complicated.

You’re already using them… just not always on purpose.

The difference is intention. When you slow down and ask what something looks like, sounds like, or feels like, your writing starts to carry more weight. It becomes easier to picture. Easier to follow. Harder to forget.

You don’t need to use them in every sentence (and, on behalf of everyone, please don’t use them in every sentence).

But used in the right moments, they’re often what makes a line stick in the heads your readers.