100 Other Elaborate Words To Use Instead of 'Good'

The word "good" is definitely one of the most commonly used adjectives of all time. It's flexibility has allowed us to use it regularly that we find so few other words to describe what kind of 'good' something or someone is. And oh, how difficult it was to limit the list to 100. As vocabulary connoisseur Brian Wasko said, "Good is such a broadly-used word, covering so much ground, it has literally hundreds of potential synonyms depending on context and the specific type of “goodness” one wishes to express. Almost any virtue might be replaced with good. A good baseball player, for example, might be swift, adroit, powerful, keen-eyed, intelligent, fearless, and fierce. And by good, one might mean any of those qualities or all of them."

That’s what makes good both a convenient word--in its broadness and flexibility--and a weak word--in its utmost lack of accuracy, not to mention it's hackneyed. So, I've compiled other elaborate words for you to use instead of saying good all the time! All the words below seek to communicate a more particular kind of goodness than good generally denotes.

The list is broken down into three general types of good. Of course there are more than three categories of good but the categories I used here are all highly subjective, for the sake of organization and usefulness. Furthermore, good here is strictly referred to as an adjective only.

Be careful to know the word well, including its connotations, before using it in writing or formal speech. Not all words work equally well in any situation.

Good as in "kind"

Good as in "quality of someone or something"

Good as in "virtuous"

I hope you think what's done here is good, and I do hope that it has benefitted you both in your speaking and writing!