English Learning Community and Resources

This is the second part of our series on expressing your feelings in English. In the previous article, you learnt about expressing ‘positive’ feelings in English; if you’re keen to read that first, you can do so here.  In this article today, you’ll learn about how to express an equally important part of the human emotional landscape, namely predominantly ‘negative’ feelings.  
 
Let’s get started! 
 
Negative feelings in English and what they mean: 
 

• Devastated 
  This word means to feel severe and overwhelming shock, sadness or grief. It can indicate that someone is metaphorically or something literally is destroyed. 
   
  ‘Devastated’ in an example: 
  “I was absolutely devastated when my aunt passed away suddenly”. 
  
  

• Annoyed 
  This word means to feel slightly angry or irritated.  
   
  ‘Annoyed’ in an example: 
  “My cat looks annoyed even if nothing is bothering her”. 
  
  

• Disappointed 
  This word means to feel sad or displeased because something or someone did not meet your hopes or expectations.  
   
  ‘Disappointed’ in an example: 
  “I was disappointed when my best friend didn’t call me on my birthday”. 
  
  

• Miserable 
  This word means to be incredibly unhappy or uncomfortable. 
   
  ‘Miserable in an example: 
  “I caught the flu, and I’ve been feeling miserable for weeks”. 
  
  

• Frustrated 
  This word means to feel or express annoyance or distress from an inability to change or achieve something 
   
  ‘Frustrated’ in an example: 
  “The child became frustrated when she couldn’t finish the puzzle”. 
  
  

• Anxious 
  This word means to feel or show worry, unease, or nervousness about something with an uncertain outcome. It can also mean to be very eager or concerned for something to happen or to do something. 
   
  ‘Anxious’ in two examples:  
  (1) “I get anxious every time I have a physics exam. I failed the last two times, and I’m afraid I will fail again”. 
  (2) “I’m anxious for my 18th birthday to happen because then I can finally start driving lessons!”. 
  
  

• Lonely 
  This word expresses the sadness you can feel when you are alone. 
   
  ‘Lonely’ in an example: 
  “During the time of the pandemic, he felt lonely, but when he got a puppy, that loneliness quickly faded away”.