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Emotion Thesaurus Entry: Impatience

Published: August 7, 2008 by BECCA PUGLISI

When it comes to emotion, sometimes we need a brainstorming nudge. After all, each character will express their feelings differently depending on their personality, emotional range, and comfort zone. We hope this short, sample list of expressions will help you better imagine how your character might show this emotion!

If you need to go deeper, we have detailed lists of body language, visceral sensations, dialogue cues, and mental responses for 130 emotions in the 2019 expanded second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression.

IMPATIENCE

· Clicking one’s fingernails against a table
· Narrowing eyes, a look of intense focus that can be mistaken for anger
· A sharp tone, using as few words as possible to answer
· Attention that snaps toward small sounds or movement
· Complaining to others or mumbling under one’s breath: “Where is he?” or “What is taking so long?”
· Fussing with one’s appearance (brushing lint from a sleeve, applying lip gloss)
· Feeling exhausted or strained to the limits
· Whining, grumbling, or pouting (small children)
· Changing places to wait (crossing a room, going from sitting to standing, choosing a different chair)
· Muttering, shaking the head, talking to oneself
· Tilting the head to the ceiling and letting out a heavy sigh
· Uncrossing and recrossing one’s legs
· Veiled anger or light sarcasm

Both Annoyance and Frustration are by-products of impatience, and can exhibit similar actions when expressing this emotion. If you need more ideas, be sure to check them out!

Win your readers’ hearts by tailoring your character’s emotional responses so they’re compelling, credible, and realistic.

If you struggle with writing emotions, you aren’t alone. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression has helped writers all over the globe, and it can help you. To find out more about this bestselling book, please visit our bookstore.

Prefer the flexibility of instant online access and greater searchability?

The Emotion Thesaurus is also at our sister site, One Stop for Writers. Visit the Emotion Thesaurus Page to view our complete list of entries.

TIP: While you’re there, check out our hyper-intelligent Character Builder that helps you create deep, memorable characters in half the time!

 

 

BECCA PUGLISI
BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jeremiah W Thomas says

    July 1, 2021 at 12:44 pm

    This is the second time I perused this website for emotional traits today! I do not have a copy of the Emotional Thesaurus with me at work…Thank you for this excellent resource! It is funny how we all exhibit these physical signs, but cannot think of them when we are trying to write about others exhibiting them.

    • BECCA PUGLISI says

      July 1, 2021 at 2:05 pm

      Hi, Jeremiah! I’m so glad you’re finding the Emotion Thesaurus useful—both at home and away. If you use it often while you’re away from home, you might want to look into our other site, One Stop For Writers. The entirety of all our thesauruses (including the Emotion Thesaurus) can be found there instead of only the sampling you’re able to see at the blog.

      Best of luck with your writing!

  2. Ceer says

    December 14, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    A bit late in finding this but it’s an awesome resource. Thank you for this

  3. Natalie Hatch says

    August 9, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    Angela can you do one on Jealousy, that’d be just what I need to finish off this manuscript. Thanks.

  4. Becca says

    August 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    It’s so great to get good feedback. Glad the entries are helping.

  5. WordWrangler says

    August 7, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    most informative and make-you-think-post… AS USUAL. You gals ROCK. 🙂

  6. C.R. Evers says

    August 7, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    yet, another great list. I sat here trying to think of things and then see if it was on your list. I couldn’t think of a single thing that you don’t already have! :0)

  7. PJ Hoover says

    August 7, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    I LOVE your emotion thesaurus! It’s the best thing I’ve seen like ever!

  8. Angela says

    August 7, 2008 at 11:26 am

    This post made me think about cultural differences in displaying emotions.

    Your posts always leave me thinking!

  9. Amy says

    August 7, 2008 at 10:36 am

    I can’t tell you guys how much I love this site. Your Emotion Thesaurus is fantastic (I know, I stop in to gush every once in a while…. you need to hear it, this stuff is GREAT!)

    THANK YOU!

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NO AI TRAINING: Any use of this content to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The legal copyright holder, Writers Helping Writers®, reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models. WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2025 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

 

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