Adjectives to describe a city
York City
York is a city in the north of the United Kingdom and was at one point the capital city. Today of course it is London. Here are some adjectives and expressions to describe a city like York:
Ancient: Very old (there is evidence people lived there 10,000 years ago)
Compact: Not very big.
Green: Full of nature, trees and parks. Even a big city like London can be described as having green areas as it has many parks.
Historical: When the city has a lot of history (rich in history) or historical buildings. London is also historical.
Idyllic: pleasing, pleasant. It can also mean perfect.
Picturesque: Like a picture, when something is so beautiful/stunning that it looks like a painting
Quaint: having old fashioned charm, charming. York is very quaint as it is an old fashioned city, but very charming. Old fashioned is usually negative and means not current.
Touristy: Visited by many tourists. It can also be described as a 'tourist trap' (noun).
Tranquil: peaceful / calm
Unspoilt: Untouched. When a place has not been modernised and has an unchanged or unaltered character.
New York City
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Big Cities
New York and London are two examples of huge cities that are very famous and touristy. Here are some adjectives to describe larger cities:
Bustling: When a city is very busy and active, or the city is lively. New York is a bustling city and is often described as the city that never sleeps.
Crowded: (Negative) When there are a lot of people. If you want to be more extreme you can say over-crowded.
Hectic: (negative) crazy and very busy, never stopping. If you work all the time you could say you have a hectic life.
Huge: Very big
Modern: New or up-to-date, not an ancient city like York and while London has many old areas, places like Canary Wharf are very modern.
Polluted: (Negative) When a city is very dirty and has thick smoky fog (or smog). Somewhere like Beijing is said to be quite polluted.
Sprawling: when a city is very expansive and not compact, it can also said to be spread out,
Other useful adjectives:
Bleak: (Negative) It has a similar meaning to depressing. Other synonyms are sombre or gloomy.
Depressing: (negative) Makes you feel sad. Similar to dreary and dismal (See below)
Dreary: (negative) dismal (synonym) and makes you feel sad
Dull: (Negative) It can mean boring or without much colour. Drab is a synonym usually referring to grey buildings.
Fashionable: When a city is described as fashionable it means it is popular to live there, or trendy.
Grimy: (negative) covered in dirt or dirty, filthy
Remote: (slightly negative) Similar to Isolated / cut off and means it is far from amenities like shops and urban areas. You can also say it is 'in the middle of nowhere' (very negative)
Rustic: Having a country feel, like a farm in the countryside
Stunning: Beautiful
Tranquil: Peaceful.
Vibrant: Full of life and action or colourful.
Thanks for reading
Thank you very much for checking out the article! I hope it was useful! Please leave comments below if you have any questions or if you wish me to add any more adjectives that I haven't thought of or leave them on the site.
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All it leaves me to say is: Enjoy your lives and thanks again!