10 examples of words to use instead of very

I’ve talked before about trying to avoid using very and really in your writing. There is no good reason to use them as modifiers when you can just use a more descriptive word.

Here are 10 examples of common very phrases and some alternatives you can use in their place:

very tall towering
very hungry famished
very tired exhausted
very sad despondent
very happy elated
very old ancient
very painful excruciating
very pretty beautiful
very scared petrified
very rainy pouring

Do you have some other very examples? Let me know in the comments.

By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.