192 Adjectives That Start With W
W runs to compounds. 33 of the 192 adjectives below are hyphenated, and 18 of those begin well- — one of the larger such clusters in English, though not the largest: self- beats it comfortably. The construction is mostly used to praise something specific — well-read, well-founded, well-mannered each name a different kind of good — but not always, as well-worn shows.
This page lists 192 adjectives that start with W, sorted by what you need one for rather than by whether it is a compliment. Every entry has an adjective headword in Merriam-Webster or Oxford.
The letter also holds a run of near-twins that catch writers out — wary and weary, wilful and its American spelling, worse and worst. They are in the confusion table at the end. Registers are marked wherever a dictionary marks them, so an unlabelled word is ordinary English and a word marked disapproving will offend somebody whether or not you meant it to.
All 192 adjectives at a glance
wacky, waggish, wakeful, wan, wandering, wanting, wanton, warlike, warm, warm-blooded, warmhearted, warped, warrantable, warty, wary, washable, washed-out, washed-up, washy, waspish, wasted, wasteful, watchful, waterborne, waterlogged, waterproof, watertight, watery, wavy, waxen, waxy, wayward, wayworn, weak, weak-kneed, weak-minded, wealthy, wearable, wearisome, weary, weather-beaten, weathered, weatherproof, webbed, wedded, wee, weedy, weekly, weepy, weightless, weighty, weird, welcome, welcoming, well, well-adjusted, well-balanced, well-behaved, well-bred, well-built, well-disposed, well-founded, well-groomed, well-informed, well-intentioned, well-known, well-mannered, well-meaning, well-off, well-read, well-rounded, well-spoken, well-worn, wellborn, westerly, western, wet, wettable, whacked, whacking, wheaten, wheezy, whiffy, whilom, whimsical, whiny, whiskered, whiskery, whispery, white, white-hot, whitish, whole, wholehearted, wholesale, wholesome, whopping, whorled, wicked, wide, wide-awake, wide-eyed, wide-ranging, widespread, widowed, wieldy, wiggly, wild, wilful, willing, willowy, wilted, wily, wimpish, windblown, winding, windless, windowless, windproof, windswept, windward, windy, winged, wingless, winning, winsome, wintry, wired, wireless, wiry, wise, wishful, wishy-washy, wispy, wistful, withdrawn, withered, withering, witless, witting, witty, wizened, wobbly, woebegone, woeful, wolfish, womanish, womanly, wonderful, wondrous, wonky, wonted, wooded, wooden, woody, woollen, woolly, woozy, wordless, wordy, workable, workaday, workmanlike, world-weary, worldly, worldly-wise, worldwide, worm-eaten, wormy, worn, worn-out, worried, worrisome, worrying, worse, worshipful, worst, worth, worthless, worthwhile, worthy, wounded, wrathful, wretched, wrinkled, wrinkly, wrong, wrongful, wrongheaded, wroth, wrought, wry
For people
Character, conduct and physical description of a person. Most of the well- compounds sit here, and they are worth reading as a set: each names a different kind of good — upbringing, schooling, intention, manners, physique, income — and using the wrong one says something you did not mean.
| Adjective | What it means |
|---|---|
| wacky | comically crazy — funny because it is so absurd and unpredictable |
| wan | unnaturally pale, as from illness, exhaustion or grief; of a smile, faint and joyless |
| wanton | deliberate and without just cause; also, in older use, lewd |
| warlike | eager to fight, or ready for battle |
| warmhearted | kind and sympathetic by nature — generous with sympathy to everyone |
| wary | on guard because you suspect a risk — withholding trust until you are sure |
| washed-up | finished as a success, with the best days gone |
| waspish | sharply irritable, quick with a stinging remark |
| watchful | keeping steady watch — attentive to what is going on so that nothing gets past you |
| waxen | made of or covered with wax; of a face, having the smooth, bloodless whiteness of a wax model |
| wayward | hard to govern, and going its own way regardless |
| weak | lacking physical strength, or too flimsy to hold up under strain |
| weak-kneed | losing nerve at the point of decision — afraid to stand firm when pressure or opposition arrives |
| weak-minded | lacking judgement or good sense |
| wealthy | rich — possessing large amounts of money, property or assets |
| weather-beaten | (usually of a person’s face) tanned and lined by long exposure to sun and wind |
| wedded | married (a wedded wife); and ‘wedded to’, so attached to a method or belief that you will not abandon it |
| welcoming | friendly and open to guests; making people feel at home |
| well | in good health, not ill; or in a satisfactory state |
| well-adjusted | emotionally at ease with oneself and with other people — coping without strain |
| well-behaved | behaving as one should — giving no trouble; said especially of children, animals and crowds |
| well-bred | brought up to good manners and refinement — a matter of upbringing |
| well-built | having a strong, solid body; or sturdily constructed |
| well-disposed | favourably inclined toward a particular person, plan or cause — in sympathy with it rather than opposed to it |
| well-groomed | carefully neat and clean in hair, skin and dress |
| well-informed | having deep knowledge of a subject or of current events |
| well-intentioned | meant kindly, and the more formal of the two spellings of that idea |
| well-mannered | having good manners — polite and correct in the small courtesies of dealing with people |
| well-meaning | acting from kindly motives, whatever the result |
| well-off | comfortably provided for — enough money to live easily, short of real wealth |
| well-read | having gained broad learning from books, across many subjects |
| well-rounded | developed across many areas — accomplished in several directions rather than trained in only one |
| well-spoken | able to express yourself clearly, fluently and politely |
| wellborn | born into a family of high social rank — a matter of birth, whatever the manners |
| whacked | (informal, chiefly British) flat out exhausted at this moment, after a burst of hard effort |
| wheezy | breathing with a thin whistling rasp, as in asthma |
| whiny | complaining in a thin, drawn-out, irritating tone |
| whiskered | having whiskers — a moustache or beard, or an animal’s stiff muzzle bristles; states plainly that they are there |
| whiskery | having or resembling whiskers |
| wicked | morally evil; informally, mischievous or splendid |
| wide-awake | fully awake with no trace of drowsiness; also, quick to spot an advantage |
| wide-eyed | staring in astonishment or fear; or naively trusting and easily impressed |
| widowed | left alone by the death of a husband or wife |
| wilful | stubbornly set on having your own way; or done on purpose |
| willing | ready and happy to do something, without needing to be pushed |
| willowy | tall, slender and graceful, bending easily like a young tree |
| wily | crafty, and good at getting round people |
| wimpish | feeble and lacking nerve, and also spelt wimpy |
| winning | that takes the prize (the winning goal); of a manner, engaging enough to bring people over to your side |
| winsome | sweetly and innocently attractive — a fresh, childlike charm, said mostly of young faces and manners |
| wiry | stiff and springy like thin metal thread; or lean and tough |
| wise | able to judge rightly what is true and what to do — deep understanding, not mere cleverness |
| wishy-washy | feeble and indecisive — of a person or a position that will not come down on either side |
| withdrawn | pulled back from contact with others; quiet and unreachable |
| witless | so short of sense that it looks plain foolish |
| witty | clever in a way that raises a laugh — quick, apt and verbally sharp |
| wizened | shrivelled and dried with age |
| wolfish | fierce and ravenous, eyeing prey like a hungry predator |
| womanish | feminine in manner or quality — usually meant as a slight |
| womanly | having the qualities traditionally seen as befitting an adult female |
| wordless | saying nothing aloud; or got across by a look alone |
| worldly | concerned with the material world rather than the spiritual — worldly goods, worldly ambitions |
| worldly-wise | knowing how the world actually works and not easily taken in — shrewdness picked up from experience |
| worshipful | showing deep, adoring respect close to reverence |
| worthy | deserving respect, attention, or support |
| wounded | hurt by a weapon, especially in war; also deeply offended |
| wrongheaded | persisting in an opinion or course that is plainly mistaken — wrong about the substance, whoever’s way it is |
For places and things
Weather, water, wood, wear and texture — the letter is unusually strong on the physical world. Note the four water words: waterproof is treated to keep water out, watertight is built so none passes either way, waterlogged has taken it on, and waterborne travels by it.
| Adjective | What it means |
|---|---|
| wandering | moving from place to place with no fixed course or destination — a wandering minstrel, wandering thoughts |
| warm | pleasantly hot, not cold; of a greeting or manner, showing lively affection at the time |
| warm-blooded | keeping a steady body temperature whatever the surroundings |
| warped | pulled out of its true shape by damp or heat — a warped door; of a mind or judgment, distorted and perverse |
| warty | covered with small rough lumps on the skin |
| washed-out | faded — bleached by washing or sun to a weak version of its colour; of a face, pale and listless-looking |
| wasted | left in ruins, or spent for no return |
| waterborne | carried by river or sea, or spread through drinking supplies |
| waterlogged | so saturated with water that it can no longer serve — a pitch unplayable, a boat barely afloat |
| waterproof | made or treated so that water cannot get through at all — a waterproof coat, waterproof boots |
| watertight | so tightly made that water passes neither in nor out |
| watery | containing too much water — thin, pale and weak in flavour or colour (watery soup, watery light) |
| wavy | formed in a series of smooth curves like waves — wavy hair, a wavy line |
| waxy | like wax to look at or touch — smooth, slightly greasy and dull-surfaced (waxy leaves, a waxy potato) |
| wearable | suitable to put on, and comfortable enough to keep on |
| weathered | (of rock, timber or paint) changed in colour and surface by long exposure to the elements |
| weatherproof | built to stand up to rain, wind and sun without damage |
| webbed | having skin stretched between the toes or fingers |
| wee | tiny; also very early, as in the small hours |
| weedy | overgrown with unwanted plants; or, of a person, thin and feeble |
| weightless | floating free, with no felt pull of gravity |
| weighty | heavy to lift; or serious enough to demand real thought |
| well-balanced | made up of parts in the right proportion, none overdone — a balanced diet, a balanced report |
| well-worn | rubbed shabby by long handling; or made stale by overuse |
| westerly | toward or from the west — of direction, and of winds, which are named for where they blow from |
| western | situated in or belonging to the west of a country or of the world — the western counties, western democracies |
| wet | covered or soaked with liquid; not dry |
| wettable | able to absorb liquid on its surface instead of repelling it |
| whacking | (informal, chiefly British, usually ‘whacking great’) huge — placed before a noun to underline size |
| wheaten | made of wheat, or the pale gold colour of it |
| whiffy | giving off a faint bad smell |
| whispery | soft and breathy, barely voiced; or full of faint rustling sounds |
| white | the colour of fresh snow or milk |
| white-hot | glowing pale from extreme heat; also, at a peak of intensity |
| whitish | close to the colour of milk but not purely so |
| whole | complete, with no part missing; also (older) unharmed and sound |
| wholesome | good for your health or your morals; nourishing rather than corrupting |
| wide | measuring much from side to side; of a gap, opening or margin, large in extent |
| wiggly | wriggling and unable to keep still; of a line, drawn with small irregular kinks |
| wild | living or growing in nature, not tamed, farmed or looked after |
| wilted | gone limp for want of water and still able to revive; of greens, cooked briefly until limp |
| windblown | (of hair, trees or objects) blown about or permanently bent by the wind |
| winding | following a bending, twisting course — a road or river that turns repeatedly instead of running straight |
| windless | perfectly still in the air, with not a breath stirring |
| windowless | having no windows |
| windproof | made so that wind cannot get through the fabric |
| windswept | (of a place) exposed and bare because the wind sweeps across it unchecked |
| windward | on the side facing into the wind — the side the wind strikes first, as opposed to the sheltered, downwind side |
| windy | with strong wind blowing; of a speaker, inflated and full of empty rhetoric |
| winged | having wings, or moving as though it had |
| wingless | of a kind that normally flies but does not |
| wintry | belonging to the coldest season; or chilly and unfriendly |
| wired | connected by cables for power or data; or buzzing and jittery |
| wireless | sending signals through the air, with no cables at all |
| wispy | made of thin, faint strands, like smoke or fine hair |
| withered | dried up, shrunken and past reviving |
| wobbly | rocking unsteadily instead of standing firm — a wobbly table, wobbly legs after illness |
| wonky | (informal, chiefly British) askew, or not working properly — crooked, or liable to give out (a wonky shelf, a wonky knee) |
| wooded | (of land) covered with growing trees — a wooded slope, a wooded estate |
| wooden | made of timber; or stiff and lifeless in manner |
| woody | made of or like wood — hard, tough and fibrous rather than soft or green (a woody stem, a woody root) |
| woollen | made of wool — of the cloth or garment itself (woollen socks, a woollen mill) |
| woolly | like wool in texture — soft and fluffy; of thinking or argument, hazy and unfocused |
| worm-eaten | (of wood, furniture or fruit) riddled with the holes grubs have bored — the damage they left behind |
| wormy | with grubs or maggots in it now — infested, rather than merely damaged |
| worn | showing the marks of long use — thin, rubbed and shabby, but still serviceable |
| worn-out | (of a thing) used until it is no longer any use; (of a person) exhausted to the point of collapse |
| wrinkled | having wrinkles |
| wrinkly | having wrinkles, or apt to form them |
| wrought | carefully shaped by hand or hammer, as iron or prose |
Work, worth and judgement
Whether a thing is any good, whether it is worth doing, and how it was made. These sat awkwardly among the physical words: workable and worthwhile are verdicts, not descriptions, and worse and worst are pure comparison.
| Adjective | What it means |
|---|---|
| wanting | missing altogether, or falling short of what is needed |
| warrantable | such that it can be defended as permissible — an action one is entitled to take |
| washable | able to be cleaned in water without damage |
| wasteful | using up far more than the job needs |
| weekly | happening or issued once every seven days |
| weird | strikingly odd or unsettling; strange beyond ordinary explanation |
| welcome | gladly received; an arrival that gives real pleasure |
| well-founded | (of a belief, fear or claim) resting on good evidence and sound reasoning |
| well-known | familiar to a great many people; commonly recognized |
| wholesale | dealing in bulk to shops, not the public; also sweeping, indiscriminate |
| whopping | strikingly large for its kind — used above all of numbers, sums and margins (a whopping 40% rise) |
| wide-ranging | taking in many different topics or fields — of a discussion, study or brief |
| widespread | existing over a large area or among many people at once — widespread flooding, widespread belief |
| wieldy | of a size and shape you can manage easily by hand |
| wordy | using more words than the matter needs — verbose, whatever the quality of the content |
| workable | capable of being carried out in practice — a plan or method that will actually run |
| workaday | ordinary and unremarkable — everyday as opposed to special (the workaday world), not only about jobs |
| workmanlike | done with the competence of a trained hand — solid and efficient, if unexciting |
| worldwide | reaching or affecting every part of the globe |
| worse | of lower quality or condition than another, or than before |
| worst | of the lowest quality or most unpleasant of all |
| worth | equal in value to a stated amount (worth £500); also deserving the particular effort named (worth a try, worth reading) |
| worthless | having no value or use at all |
| worthwhile | giving a return that justifies the time, money or trouble it costs — said of an activity as a whole |
| wrong | not correct, or not the one required; of conduct, morally bad |
| wrongful | (of an act done to someone) unjust or unlawful in a way the law can remedy — wrongful arrest, wrongful dismissal |
For feelings and mood
States rather than settled dispositions. Wistful and woebegone are the two worth having: the first is a quiet sadness for something out of reach, the second is misery deep enough to show.
| Adjective | What it means |
|---|---|
| wakeful | unable to sleep, or spent without sleep — a wakeful patient, a wakeful night |
| wearisome | so dull and drawn-out that it drains your patience |
| weary | tired in a settled, dispirited way, and sick of it |
| weepy | given to crying, or right on the edge of tears |
| whimsical | fanciful and quaintly odd, often gently amusing; of a person, acting on sudden passing fancies |
| wholehearted | done with complete enthusiasm and no reservation — of support, agreement or effort |
| wishful | believing a thing because you would like it to be true |
| wistful | quietly sad for something out of reach |
| withering | scornful enough to make someone shrink; also destructive |
| woebegone | sunk in woe, and looking it |
| woeful | expressing grief; also, of a standard or performance, pitifully inadequate (woeful ignorance) |
| wonderful | excellent, delightful — plain high praise for almost anything |
| woozy | dizzy and faintly sick, or muddled in the head |
| world-weary | tired of life and no longer moved by its pleasures |
| worried | feeling anxious now about a particular thing that may go wrong |
| worrisome | apt to cause anxiety, in chiefly North American use |
| worrying | causing anxiety about how something will turn out |
| wrathful | filled with wrath — burning, often righteous anger, and showing it |
| wretched | in a miserable state — unwell, unhappy or destitute; of a thing, of contemptibly poor quality |
| wry | dryly ironic about something unwelcome; or twisted into a half-smile |
Rare and unusual
Archaic, literary and little-used. Whilom and wroth belong to older writing; wonted survives mainly in fixed phrases. Read them, but think twice before writing them — and note that Merriam-Webster carries no register label on the last two, so the archaic tag here is a judgement about how they read now, not a dictionary fact.
| Adjective | What it means |
|---|---|
| waggish | fond of joking — habitually mischievous and facetious, in good humour |
| washy | weak and over-diluted, of drink, colour or prose with no body |
| wayworn | tired out by long travel, and showing every mile of it |
| whilom | holding a position at one time but no longer |
| whorled | arranged in rings or spirals around a stem or central point |
| witting | done in full knowledge of what one is doing — the opposite of unwitting, carrying no blame in itself |
| wondrous | so strange and splendid it stops you in your tracks |
| wonted | (literary) customary for that particular person — the thing they habitually do, use or occupy (his wonted chair) |
| wroth | (archaic, used after the verb) angry — ‘the king was wroth’; now scriptural or mock-solemn only |
Positive and negative at a glance
Sorting by job rather than by tone means compliments and criticisms sit side by side above. Here a selection of them is separated into three columns, using words already defined on this page — and the third column is the interesting one.
| Clearly positive | Clearly negative | Depends on the sentence |
|---|---|---|
| warm, warmhearted, watchful, wealthy, welcoming, wholesome, wise, witty, wondrous | waspish, wasteful, wayward, wanton, wicked, witless, wretched, wrongheaded, woebegone | wary, wilful, wistful, wily, wordy, worldly, wry, wilted, wanting |
The third column is where the letter is most interesting. Wily is admiring about an ally and damning about an opponent; worldly praises a diplomat and criticises a priest; and wry is a compliment about humour and a complaint about a face.
Using them in a sentence
- A wary witness and a weary one give very different evidence.
- The path was windswept, the hut watertight, and the tea weak.
- He was well-meaning, wordy and entirely wrong.
- She looked wistful for a moment, then gave a wicked grin.
- A weathered gate, a worm-eaten post, and a wilful old dog.
- The plan was workable rather than wonderful, which was enough.
Words people get wrong
| Pair | The difference that matters |
|---|---|
| wary / weary | One letter, and Merriam-Webster records the confusion. Wary is watchful for danger; weary is tired out. A wary traveller is alert; a weary one wants to sit down. Both are on this page, and the words are not related. |
| wilful / willful | One word, two spellings, and unlike most claimed regional splits this one is recorded: Oxford marks wilful especially British and willful usually North American. Merriam-Webster is the exception, heading the entry willful with wilful as an equal variant and no regional note. Both dictionaries mark it disapproving, which the gloss above reflects. Listed once here, under the British spelling. |
| worse / worst | The traditional rule is that worse compares two things and worst is the bottom of three or more, so “the worse of the two” is the careful choice. Worth following in formal writing — but know that Merriam-Webster calls the prohibition on the superlative-of-two “a perfect shibboleth” and notes there is nothing actually wrong with it. English keeps put your best foot forward and may the best man win, both of which break it. |
| weather / whether | Neither is on this page, but the pair is worth having. Weather is what is happening outside — and, in nautical use, an adjective meaning the side facing the wind. Whether introduces a choice between possibilities and is never anything else. Spellcheckers accept both, so the error survives to publication. |
| wreak / wreck | Neither is an adjective. To wreak is to bring something about — the phrase is wreak havoc, not wreck havoc, though the second is now common enough to be spreading. To wreck is to destroy. |
Related guides
- Adjectives for walking — where wayworn and windswept do their closest work.
- Adjectives for a wave — pairs with watery, waterborne and wavy.
- Adjectives for wealth — expands wealthy, well-off and worthwhile.
- Adjectives for wounds — for wounded, weeping and the rest of that vocabulary, which this letter only touches.
- Adjectives for Wednesday — the days-of-the-week set, which this page does not cover.
- Adjectives for working — where workmanlike and workaday get used.
Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.
