Adjectives are describing words that modify nouns to add concrete details to your writing. You can take boring descriptions and make them more vivid by including strong adjectives that provide specific information about the thing you’re describing.

You can add adjectives starting with P to all kinds of writing, such as creative writing, business writing, academic writing, and copywriting.

Just remember your target readers when you’re considering different adjectives. You might find a word that sounds like it describes the thing you’re writing about, but will your readers understand the word? Readability is just as important as picking the best adjective for your sentence.

In this article, we’ll give you over 300 descriptive adjectives that start with P for you to use in your writing. We’ll also give you some tips on how to add more adjectives to your writing while maintaining readability.

P Words to Describe Someone

You can use descriptive words when you need to describe someone, and you want to provide more details for your reader’s imagination to work with.

Adjectives that all start with the same letter are also great for alliteration, which is when you use the same consonant sound at the beginning of consecutive words. For example, you might write a children’s book about the “pretty, petite princess.”

Alliteration strengthens engagement, as it’s fun to read, so it’s perfect for children’s books and advertising. If you need to describe someone in your writing, consider adding some alliteration to make it more interesting.

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Here’s a list of adjectives that start with P, which you can use to describe someone:

• Pale

• Paltry

• Pampered

• Panicked

• Panicky

• Paranormal

• Parched

• Pardonable

• Parental

• Particular

• Partisan

• Passionate

• Passive

• Pastoral

• Paternal

• Paternalistic

• Pathetic

• Pathological

• Patient

• Patriotic

• Patronizing

• Peaceful

• Peculiar

• Pedantic

• Peeved

• Pensive

• Perceptive

• Perfect

• Perfumed

• Perky

• Perplexed

• Perplexing

• Persevering

• Persistent

• Personable

• Personal

• Persuasive

• Pertinent

• Perturbed

• Pervasive

• Perverse

• Pesky

• Pessimistic

• Petite

• Petty

• Petulant

• Pharmaceutical

• Phenomenal

• Philanthropic

• Philosophical

• Phobic

• Phony

• Photographic

• Physical

• Pigheaded

• Pitch-perfect

• Pitiful

• Pitiless

• Placid

• Plain

• Plaintive

• Playful

• Pleading

• Pleasant

• Pleased

• Pleasing

• Pliable

• Plucky

• Plump

• Pluralistic

• Poignant

• Polite

• Political

• Pompous

• Ponderous

• Poor

• Poorer

• Poorest

• Popular

• Portly

• Posh

• Positive

• Possessive

• Powerful

• Powerless

• Practical

• Pragmatic

• Praiseworthy

• Precious

• Predictable

• Predisposed

• Pregnant

• Prejudiced

• Prejudicial

• Premature

• Prenatal

• Preoccupied

• Prepared

• Preposterous

• Present

• Prestigious

• Presumptive

• Presumptuous

• Pretentious

• Pretty

• Prickly

• Prim

• Primitive

• Princely

• Prissy

• Private

• Privileged

• Proactive

• Problematic

• Productive

• Profane

• Professional

• Proficient

• Progressive

• Prohibitive

• Prolific

• Prominent

• Prompt

• Proper

• Protective

• Proud

• Provocative

• Provoking

• Prudent

• Prying

• Psychiatric

• Psychological

• Psychotic

• Puffy

• Punctual

• Pungent

• Pure

• Purposeful

• Pushy

• Putrid

• Puzzled

• Puzzling

• Pygmy

• Pyrotechnic

Negative Words That Start With P

Negative adjectives that start with P are ideal for setting a dark tone and providing descriptions of something bad or unpleasant.

For example, if you’re writing a thriller and you wanted to describe the antagonist in a way that really gets across how twisted they are, you could describe them as perverse, psychotic, or putrid.

Here’s a list of negative adjectives starting with P:

• Painful

• Painstaking

• Paltry

• Panicked

• Panicky

• Paradoxical

• Parasitic

• Parched

• Patronizing

• Peculiar

• Peeved

• Peevish

• Pensive

• Permissible

• Permissive

• Perplexed

• Perplexing

• Perturbed

• Perturbing

• Pervasive

• Perverse

• Pesky

• Petty

• Petulant

• Phony

• Pigheaded

• Pitch-dark

• Pitiful

• Pointless

• Poisonous

• Polluted

• Pompous

• Poor

• Possessive

• Powerless

• Preferential

• Prejudiced

• Prejudicial

• Pressing

• Pressurized

• Presumptive

• Presumptuous

• Pretentious

• Pricey

• Prickly

• Primitive

• Privileged

• Profane

• Prohibitive

• Proud

• Provocative

• Provoking

• Prudent

• Prudential

• Prying

• Psychotic

• Pugnacious

• Pungent

• Punishable

• Punished

• Puny

• Purposeless

• Putrid

• Puzzling

Positive Words That Start With the Letter P

Positive adjectives describe good things. However, the word “good” is a weak adjective as it doesn’t provide any further details for your reader to work with. Therefore, you can use stronger, uncommon adjectives to improve your descriptions and make them vivid in your reader’s mind.

Positive adjectives are great for advertising as they create a positive tone and can help influence your reader to make a purchase. For example, if you were selling a car, you could say the bodywork is perfect and pristine, while the interior is plush, and the driving experience is priceless.

Here’s a list of positive adjectives that start with P:

• Paisley

• Palatable

• Pampered

• Pardonable

• Party

• Passionate

• Pastel

• Patchwork

• Patented

• Patient

• Patriotic

• Patterned

• Payable

• Peaceful

• Perfect

• Perfumed

• Perky

• Permanent

• Persevering

• Persistent

• Personal

• Petite

• Picturesque

• Pink

• Pitch-perfect

• Pithy

• Planned

• Plausible

• Playful

• Pleasant

• Pleased

• Pleasing

• Pleasurable

• Plentiful

• Plenty

• Plucky

• Plush

• Poetic

• Poignant

• Polished

• Polite

• Polka-dotted

• Popular

• Posh

• Positive

• Possible

• Powerful

• Pragmatic

• Praiseworthy

• Precious

• Precise

• Preferable

• Premium

• Present

• Presentable

• Prestigious

• Pretty

• Priceless

• Pristine

• Private

• Prize

• Prized

• Professional

• Proficient

• Profitable

• Profound

• Promising

• Proportionate

• Protective

• Proud

• Pure

• Purified

• Purple

• Purposeful

Full List of Adjectives Starting With P

Not all adjectives beginning with P are negative, positive, or used to describe people. We’ve gathered as many adjectives that start with P so you can choose from a wide selection.

Here’s our full list of adjectives starting with P:

• Padded

• Painful

• Painless

• Painstaking

• Paisley

• Palatable

• Palatial

• Pale

• Pallid

• Palpable

• Paltry

• Pampered

• Panicked

• Panicky

• Panoramic

• Paradoxical

• Parallel

• Paranormal

• Parasitic

• Parched

• Pardonable

• Parental

• Parenthetic

• Parking

• Parsimonious

• Part-time

• Partial

• Particular

• Partisan

• Party

• Passing

• Passionate

• Passive

• Past

• Pastel

• Pastoral

• Patched

• Patchwork

• Patchy

• Patented

• Paternal

• Paternalistic

• Pathetic

• Pathological

• Patient

• Patriotic

• Patronizing

• Patterned

• Payable

• Peaceable

• Peaceful

• Peculiar

• Pedantic

• Pedestrian

• Peerless

• Peeved

• Peevish

• Penetrable

• Penetrating

• Pensive

• Peppery

• Perceivable

• Perceptible

• Perceptive

• Perceptual

• Peremptory

• Perennial

• Perfect

• Perfumed

• Perilous

• Period

• Periodic

• Peripheral

• Perishable

• Perky

• Permanent

• Permeable

• Permissible

• Permissive

• Pernicious

• Perpendicular

• Perpetual

• Perplexed

• Perplexing

• Persevering

• Persistent

• Personable

• Personal

• Persuasive

• Pert

• Pertinent

• Perturbed

• Perturbing

• Pervasive

• Perverse

• Pesky

• Pessimistic

• Petite

• Pettish

• Petty

• Petulant

• Pharmaceutical

• Phenomenal

• Philanthropic

• Philosophical

• Phobic

• Phonemic

• Phonetic

• Phony

• Phosphorescent

• Photographic

• Physical

• Physiological

• Pickled

• Picturesque

• Piercing

• Pigheaded

• Pink

• Pious

• Piquant

• Pitch-dark

• Pitch-perfect

• Piteous

• Pithy

• Pitiful

• Pitiless

• Pivotal

• Placid

• Plaid

• Plain

• Plaintive

• Plane

• Planned

• Plastic

• Platonic

• Plausible

• Playful

• Pleading

• Pleasant

• Pleased

• Pleasing

• Pleasurable

• Plentiful

• Plenty

• Pliable

• Plodding

• Plopping

• Plucky

• Plump

• Pluralistic

• Plus

• Plush

• Pneumatic

• Poetic

• Poignant

• Pointed

• Pointless

• Poised

• Poisonous

• Polished

• Polite

• Political

• Polka-dotted

• Polluted

• Polyunsaturated

• Pompous

• Ponderous

• Poor

• Poorer

• Poorest

• Popping

• Popular

• Populous

• Porous

• Portable

• Portly

• Posh

• Positive

• Possessive

• Possible

• Post hoc

• Posthumous

• Postoperative

• Potable

• Potent

• Potential

• Powdery

• Powerful

• Powerless

• Practical

• Pragmatic

• Praiseworthy

• Precarious

• Precious

• Precipitous

• Precise

• Precocious

• Preconceived

• Predicative

• Predictable

• Predisposed

• Predominant

• Preeminent

• Preemptive

• Prefabricated

• Preferable

• Preferential

• Pregnant

• Prehistoric

• Prejudiced

• Prejudicial

• Preliminary

• Premature

• Premeditated

• Premium

• Prenatal

• Preoccupied

• Preoperative

• Preparative

• Prepared

• Preposterous

• Prescriptive

• Present

• Presentable

• Presidential

• Pressing

• Pressurized

• Prestigious

• Presumable

• Presumptive

• Presumptuous

• Pretend

• Pretentious

• Pretty

• Prevalent

• Preventable

• Preventative

• Preventive

• Previous

• Priceless

• Pricey

• Prickly

• Prim

• Primary

• Prime

• Primitive

• Primordial

• Princely

• Principal

• Principled

• Prior

• Prissy

• Pristine

• Private

• Privileged

• Prize

• Prized

• Proactive

• Probabilistic

• Probable

• Problem-solving

• Problematic

• Procedural

• Prodigious

• Productive

• Profane

• Professed

• Professional

• Proficient

• Profitable

• Profound

• Profuse

• Programmable

• Progressive

• Prohibitive

• Prolific

• Prominent

• Promised

• Promising

• Prompt

• Pronounceable

• Pronounced

• Proof

• Proper

• Prophetic

• Proportional

• Proportionate

• Proportioned

• Prospective

• Prosperous

• Protective

• Prototypical

• Proud

• Proverbial

• Provisional

• Provocative

• Provoking

• Proximal

• Proximate

• Prudent

• Prudential

• Prying

• Psychedelic

• Psychiatric

• Psychological

• Psychosomatic

• Psychotic

• Public

• Puckish

• Puffy

• Pugnacious

• Pulsating

• Pumped

• Punctual

• Pungent

• Punishable

• Punished

• Punitive

• Puny

• Pure

• Purified

• Puritanical

• Purple

• Purported

• Purposeful

• Purposeless

• Purring

• Pushy

• Pusillanimous

• Putrid

• Puzzled

• Puzzling

• Pygmy

• Pyramidal

• Pyrotechnic

There you go, a full list of over 300 adjectives starting with P, which you can use for improving your descriptive writing.

If you want to check your writing to ensure you’ve used plenty of adjectives, try ProWritingAid’s Thesaurus report. It highlights all instances of adjectives in your writing so you can decide if you need to include some more.

You can also use the Word Explorer feature on the ProWritingAid website if you want to check if an adjective starting with P is suitable for your sentence. When you type your word into the Word Explorer, you’ll see the definition of the word, synonyms, rhyming words, and more.

We hope this article has provided you with some more P adjectives you’ll include in your descriptions. If you need an adjective starting with any other letter of the alphabet, we have more adjective articles on our blog.