Emotions and feelings
List of Emotions: 100+ Feelings With Meanings
Not a substitute for care
This article is for general information and is not a substitute for advice from a therapist or doctor. EmoAtlas does not diagnose any condition.
The full list of emotions and feelings, by family
103 words in 10 families. Within each family, from mild to intense.
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| pleasure | a pleasant sensation in the moment | mild |
| contentment | things are as they should be | mild |
| cheerfulness | a light, upbeat mood | mild |
| playfulness | wanting to joke and fool around | mild |
| relief | a worry has passed and tension drops | mild |
| happiness | a warm sense that things are going well | moderate |
| pride | pleasure in an achievement, yours or someone's | moderate |
| hope | expecting that things may turn out well | moderate |
| enthusiasm | a surge of energy and drive to act | moderate |
| elation | overflowing joy, hard to sit still | strong |
| triumph | the joy of winning after long effort | strong |
| euphoria | joy at its peak, usually brief | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| relaxation | body and mind at ease | mild |
| lightness | nothing weighing you down | mild |
| safety | no threat nearby, you can exhale | mild |
| acceptance | being okay with what is, without a fight | mild |
| patience | willingness to wait without irritation | mild |
| composure | staying steady under pressure | moderate |
| serenity | quiet clarity, free of worry | moderate |
| peace | inner quiet after turmoil | moderate |
| confidence | a sense that you can handle it | moderate |
| bliss | deep, complete peace and pleasure | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| fondness | warm regard for someone | mild |
| warmth | gentle goodwill toward others | mild |
| trust | confidence that you can rely on someone | moderate |
| gratitude | appreciation for what you received | moderate |
| belonging | the sense that you fit in here | moderate |
| tenderness | wanting to care for someone gently | moderate |
| compassion | feeling another's pain and wanting to help | moderate |
| affection | wanting to be close to someone | moderate |
| admiration | respect for someone's qualities or actions | moderate |
| being moved | a warm swell of feeling, sometimes to tears | moderate |
| love | deep attachment and care | strong |
| adoration | admiring, all-absorbing love | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| curiosity | wanting to find out what's next | mild |
| interest | attention drawn toward something | moderate |
| intrigue | a puzzle you want to solve | moderate |
| absorption | lost in an activity, time flies | moderate |
| anticipation | looking forward to something | moderate |
| eagerness | wanting it to happen sooner | moderate |
| inspiration | a rush of ideas and the urge to create | strong |
| thrill | gripping excitement about a game or risk | strong |
| fascination | interest you can't pull away from | strong |
| vigilance | heightened alertness to what's coming | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| puzzlement | “wait, how did that happen?” | mild |
| confusion | thoughts tangle, you need a moment | mild |
| surprise | a reaction to the unexpected | moderate |
| bewilderment | not knowing what to do now | moderate |
| amazement | strong surprise, often with wonder | strong |
| shock | surprise that knocks you off balance | strong |
| awe | wonder at something much bigger than you | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| pensiveness | quiet, slightly sad reflection | mild |
| nostalgia | bittersweet longing for the past | mild |
| sadness | heaviness after a loss or letdown | moderate |
| disappointment | expectations weren't met | moderate |
| longing | missing what's gone or far away | moderate |
| loneliness | missing connection with people | moderate |
| regret | wishing things had gone differently | moderate |
| gloom | low energy and no light ahead | moderate |
| helplessness | feeling nothing can be done | strong |
| emptiness | hollow, as if nothing is felt | strong |
| despair | near-total loss of hope | strong |
| grief | the deep pain of loss | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| worry | thoughts circling a possible problem | mild |
| apprehension | a mild sense something may go wrong | mild |
| insecurity | doubting yourself or the outcome | mild |
| suspicion | expecting a catch | mild |
| nervousness | a jittery body before an event | moderate |
| anxiety | tense expectation of a threat, often vague | moderate |
| fear | a response to a specific danger | moderate |
| fright | sudden, short-lived fear | moderate |
| vulnerability | feeling exposed and unprotected | moderate |
| dismay | fear mixed with confusion | moderate |
| panic | fear that floods body and mind | strong |
| terror | extreme, paralyzing fear | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| irritation | minor but nagging displeasure | mild |
| annoyance | “ugh, not again” | mild |
| dissatisfaction | something isn't the way you wanted | mild |
| frustration | blocked from what you want | moderate |
| hurt | feeling wronged by someone | moderate |
| indignation | a reaction to unfairness | moderate |
| anger | energy aimed at what blocks or harms you | moderate |
| jealousy | fear of losing someone to a rival | moderate |
| envy | wanting what someone else has | moderate |
| hostility | an urge to oppose or attack | strong |
| rage | anger that's hard to hold back | strong |
| fury | anger at its limit, control slipping | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| boredom | nothing sparks any interest | mild |
| dislike | wanting to keep your distance | mild |
| disapproval | “that's not okay”, judging an action | mild |
| distaste | recoiling from something unpleasant | moderate |
| disgust | strong rejection | moderate |
| contempt | looking down on someone | moderate |
| loathing | extreme disgust | strong |
| hatred | lasting, intense aversion | strong |
| Emotion / feeling | What it means | Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| awkwardness | not knowing where to put yourself | mild |
| embarrassment | uncomfortable under attention | mild |
| shyness | timidity around others | mild |
| guilt | “I did something wrong” | moderate |
| shame | “something is wrong with me” | moderate |
| remorse | guilt plus the wish to make amends | moderate |
| humiliation | shame in front of others | strong |
| worthlessness | feeling you have no value | strong |
Contents
- The full list of emotions and feelings, by family
- Printable list of emotions (download the PDF)
- Core emotions: where the list starts
- Emotion vs. feeling: is there a difference?
- Positive and negative emotions
- How to use the list of emotions in a journal
- When naming it isn't enough
- Frequently asked questions
More
This list of emotions gives you more than 100 feeling words, sorted into 10 families, each with a one-line meaning and an intensity rating. It's built for real life: for the moment you're asked "how are you?" and the only honest answer you can find is "fine" or "bad." The words are usually there. You just need a map to get to them.
Find the family closest to what you feel, then pick the most precise word inside it. The dots show intensity, from one (mild) to three (strong).
What are you feeling right now?
Tap the words that fit this moment, up to 6. We'll turn them into a card. The image is made on your device and isn't sent anywhere.
Joy
Calm
Love & connection
Interest
Surprise
Sadness
Fear & anxiety
Anger
Disgust
Shame & guilt
0 of 6 picked
Log it in your journal →In EmoAtlas this takes a couple of seconds, and after a few weeks you can see what moves your mood.
The list has 100+ words grouped into 10 families. We started from Plutchik's eight, folded trust into love and connection and anticipation into interest, and added two more families, calm and shame and guilt, because a feelings vocabulary without them has obvious gaps. Each family comes with a short note on what that group of emotions tends to signal.
"Irritation" and "rage" live in the same family, but they're very different experiences, and they call for different responses.
A few things that make the list easier to use:
- One event can bring several emotions. After a tough talk with your boss you might feel relief (it's over), hurt (something unfair was said), and worry (what happens next). Name all three.
- Some words cross families. "Longing" can lean toward sadness or toward love. Pick the row whose meaning fits better.
- A loud emotion often covers a quieter one. Rage is frequently sitting on top of hurt or fear; numbness can hide exhaustion and disappointment. Once the top layer has a name, ask, "and what's underneath?"
Printable list of emotions (download the PDF)
A list like this works best within reach: on the fridge, in a notebook, next to your desk, or in a classroom. We made three versions. Each fits neatly on Letter or A4 paper, with no background colors or buttons, and each has a ready PDF you can keep on your phone offline:
- full: all 100+ words with meanings and intensity;
- medium: 50 words, five per family, also with meanings;
- simple: 30 words, three per family, large and without meanings.
If you're printing it for a child or teen, start with the simple chart and add more words when they're needed.
Prefer an image for a lesson, slides or notes? Each family on the list is also a separate card, with words from mild to intense and a short meaning for each.
Feeling words by family, as images
Ten cards, one per family of the list: words from mild to intense, each with a short meaning. 1200×1500 PNGs for a lesson, slides or notes.
Free to reuse with a link to the source — CC BY 4.0 · terms
Core emotions: where the list starts
Quick answer: how many emotions are there? It depends on the model. Paul Ekman described 6 basic emotions recognized on faces across cultures (happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger, disgust). Robert Plutchik proposed 8, adding trust and anticipation. A 2017 study by Alan Cowen and Dacher Keltner found 27 distinct categories people use to describe their experiences. For everyday use you need more words than any of these, which is why the list below has 100+.
Plutchik's eight basic emotions, each with a milder and a stronger form:
| Basic emotion | Milder | Stronger |
|---|---|---|
| joy | serenity | ecstasy |
| trust | acceptance | admiration |
| fear | apprehension | terror |
| surprise | distraction | amazement |
| sadness | pensiveness | grief |
| disgust | boredom | loathing |
| anger | annoyance | rage |
| anticipation | interest | vigilance |
Researchers still debate how many "basic" emotions humans have. Psychologist Paul Ekman, who studied facial expressions, described six that people across very different cultures tend to recognize on a face: happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger, and disgust. Robert Plutchik proposed eight and arranged them in a circle, which became the well-known emotion wheel (there's a printable feelings wheel with his version too).
For everyday purposes, the exact number matters less than the idea behind it: there are a few "primary colors," and most of what you feel is a shade or a blend of them.
Notice how easy the mild forms in the chart above are to miss. "Pensiveness" doesn't feel like sadness, "apprehension" doesn't feel like fear, and "annoyance" doesn't feel like anger. But the mild stage is exactly when an emotion is easiest to notice and handle, before it grows.
Emotion vs. feeling: is there a difference?
In everyday speech the two words are used interchangeably, and this list uses both. Still, the distinction helps you describe your state more precisely.
An emotion is a fast reaction to something happening right now. It shows up in your body: heart rate jumps, shoulders tighten, your face gets hot. The first jolt is short, though its aftertaste can linger for hours. The jolt when a dog leaps out at you on a walk is an emotion.
A feeling is the more lasting experience or attitude that forms around emotions, often with some thought mixed in. It can stretch over days or years and hold many emotions inside it. Love for your kid is a feeling, and within it there's joy, worry, and irritation when the juice gets spilled for the third time.
A mood is the background tone that lasts hours or days and often isn't tied to a single event. It's the easiest thing to rate on a simple scale: rough, meh, okay, good, great.
Positive and negative emotions
People often search for "positive" and "negative" emotions, and the split is useful as long as you remember that unpleasant doesn't mean wrong. Anger points to a crossed boundary, fear to a risk, sadness to something that mattered. Here is how the ten families roughly divide:
| Usually pleasant | Usually unpleasant | Can go either way |
|---|---|---|
| Joy, Calm, Love & connection, Interest | Sadness, Fear & anxiety, Anger, Disgust, Shame & guilt | Surprise (a gift vs. a shock) |
A pleasant word isn't automatically a good sign either: relief after every argument, for example, can say more about the pattern than about the moment. Track both kinds. Days with interest, pride, or calm are data too; they show you what to repeat.
How to use the list of emotions in a journal
The list pays off when you use it a little, regularly. Two minutes a day is plenty:
- Rate your overall mood from 1 to 5. It takes a second and later turns into a chart.
- Name one to three emotions from the list. Don't hunt for the perfect word. "Closer than just bad" is the goal.
- Rate the intensity using the dots: mild, moderate, or strong. After a week you'll likely see that "strong" days are rarer than they felt.
- Add what came before it: an event, a person, sleep, caffeine, your commute. One line is enough.
- Look back once a week. Which words repeat? On which days, and after what?
That takes about a minute to write. A month of entries like that starts to show which situations bring the same emotions again and again.
For more on formats and example entries, see how to start a mood journal. If you want to build the underlying skill of noticing and naming what you feel, read about emotional awareness.
In EmoAtlas, this whole routine takes a few seconds: tap a mood face, pick a feeling or two, set your energy level, and, if you like, mark where your body feels tension or heaviness. The app compares your days and shows what moves your mood, and your notes are encrypted on your device.
When naming it isn't enough
Frequently asked questions
What are the 27 emotions?
In Cowen and Keltner's 2017 study, the 27 categories were admiration, adoration, aesthetic appreciation, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, romance, sadness, satisfaction, sexual desire, and surprise. The authors also found that these categories blend into each other rather than having sharp borders.
What are the 12 basic emotions?
There's no agreed list of twelve. The number depends on the theory: 6 in Ekman's work, 8 in Plutchik's, and around ten in Carroll Izard's, which adds interest, shame, guilt, and contempt. If you've seen a list of 12, it's one author's selection, not a scientific standard.
Is there a list of 100 emotions?
Yes, the table above has more than 100 words in ten families, each with a short meaning and intensity. The printable version and the PDF contain the same list.
How do I use a list of emotions with kids?
Start small: two or three words per family, ideally the moderate ones, and practice naming feelings in calm moments, not only in the middle of a meltdown. The feelings wheel is often easier for younger children because it starts from just a few core feelings.
Sources
- Ekman P., Friesen W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
- Plutchik R. (2001). The Nature of Emotions. American Scientist.
- Cowen A. S., Keltner D. (2017). Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Izard C. E. (1977). Human Emotions. Springer (Plenum Press).
How this article was made: the draft was written with the help of our language model (AI); claims and figures were checked against the sources. How we write and check articles