Did you see, hear or taste anything disgusting lately? Did anything make you angry or surprised? Read this article to learn vocabulary that will help you accurately describe the feelings…

Disgust

Idioms & Adjectives	Meaning	Examples
stomach-churning	making you feel that you want to vomit because it is so horrible	The team daily faces stomach-churning crime scenes.
off-putting	not pleasant, in a way that prevents you from liking somebody/something	The noise was extremely off-putting.
to put someone off	to be off-putting	Don’t be put off by how it looks – it tastes delicious.
beyond the pale	(of someone’s behavior) unacceptable	His remarks were clearly beyond the pale.
sick-making	stomach-churning	What a sick-making stench!
revolting	extremely unpleasant	Picking your nose is a revolting habit.
obnoxious	very unpleasant/rude	Some of his colleagues say that he’s loud and obnoxious.
repellent	very unpleasant and causing strong dislike	Their political ideas are repellent to most people.
repulsive	repellent	I’ve never met a more repulsive man!
nauseating	stomach-churning, sick-making; repellent, revolting	1) The nauseating smell of rotting food is more than I can take. 2) He wrote me a really nauseating letter.

Further reading: “How to Talk About Tastes & Smells”

Surprise

Idioms & Adjectives	Meaning	Examples
breathtaking	extremely exciting/surprising/beautiful	The view from here is breathtaking.
to take one’s breath away	to be breathtaking	The beauty of the palace took my breath away.
to stop in one’s tracks	to suddenly stop because something has frightened/surprised you	1) I stopped in my tracks when I heard the scream. 2) The question stopped Alice in her tracks.
to blow one’s mind	to be very exciting/unusual/surprising	The special effects in this film will blow your mind (= are mind-blowing).
to leave someone open-mouthed	to leave someone very surprised/shocked	The scene will leave you open-mouthed.
astounding	very surprising/shocking	The decision to leave the country was astounding.
startling	surprising and sometimes worrying	What a startling discovery!
stunning	very shocking/impressive/surprising	The ideas have a stunning simplicity.
staggering	astounding	They paid a staggering £5 million for the house.
confounding	confusing/surprising	The sudden rise in share prices is confounding.

Anger

Idioms & Adjectives	Meaning	Examples
hot under the collar	angry/embarrassed	He got very hot under the collar when I asked him where he’d been all day.
on the warpath	angry and wanting to fight or punish somebody	If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it is my boss on the warpath.
up in arms	very angry about something and ready to protest strongly about it	Teachers are up in arms about new school tests.
foaming at the mouth	very angry	He was foaming at the mouth with rage.
bent out of shape	angry/agitated	I’m a little bent out of shape about the change.
pissed off	annoyed/disappointed/unhappy	I’m pissed off at you.
steamed up	angry/excited/worried	Don’t get so steamed-up about it – it’s not really important.
snappy	hot-tempered/irritable	There’s no need to be so snappy with the children.
crabby	easily annoyed by unimportant things; bad-tempered	You’re crabby today. What’s bothering you?
to have a cow	to become very angry/upset	My mother had a cow when I said I was going to buy a motorbike.

Practice

Click the link here and match the sentence parts.

Click the link here and complete the sentences.

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