There are many adjectives that describe how intelligent someone is. A person who understands and learns easily is clever or smart. If they can think and reply to people quickly, they are quick-witted. If they learn new ideas easily, they are bright – this is mainly used when talking about children or younger people who are learning something new:
- The company’s IT department has recruited some very bright young graduates.
Negative adjectives are more difficult to use, as they may sound too critical or impolite. Stupid and silly are quite strong words, so it’s best to use them only in informal, less serious situations, or to talk about yourself:
- Oh, no! I left my bag on the bus. That was stupid of me.
Rather than “stupid”, we often prefer to say not very intelligent/bright:
- Mary isn’t very bright, but she’ll probably get through the exam if she works hard.
If someone takes a long time to understand things, they are slow-witted or slow on the uptake:
- He’s a bit slow on the uptake. I showed him how to use Excel, but he still doesn’t get it.
Many adjectives describe a person’s attitude to life or to other people. Some people are laid-back (= relaxed about life); other people are more uptight (= tense or not relaxed). Some people are broad-minded (= they accept different points of view); others are narrow-minded (= they have a fixed attitude and don’t accept people who are different from them). An easy-going person doesn’t easily get upset. And if someone is down-to-earth, they are practical and get on with their life. A capable person is able to deal with problems and gets things done. And a reliable person is someone you can trust to do what they say. The opposite is unreliable:
- I asked Sue to post the letters, but she forgot. She’s so unreliable sometimes.