Writing
Descriptive word list to use in your fantasy novel
A gothic fantasy vocabulary reference
Light, glow & radiance
Crepuscular: of twilight; active in the half-light of dawn or dusk
Effulgent: radiant, shining forth brilliantly
Coruscating: flashing, sparkling in bursts
Incandescent: glowing with heat; blazing intensity (also: fury)
Opalescent: milky, shifting iridescence, like the stone
Phosphorescent: glowing faintly without heat, often eerie
Gloaming: twilight, the hour between light and dark (noun, gorgeous on its own)
Nimbus: a luminous halo or cloud of light around a figure
Penumbra: the partial shadow at the edge of full darkness
Lambent: softly glowing, flickering gently (candlelight, moonlight)
Texture & touch
Diaphanous: sheer, almost transparent (fabric, mist)
Gossamer: delicate, filmy, spiderweb-thin
Viscous: thick, sticky, slow-moving (blood, oil, magic)
Friable: crumbling easily (old parchment, dry bone)
Sinuous: winding, snake-like, sinewy
Corrugated: ridged, furrowed (bark, old skin)
Desiccated: dried out, drained of moisture and life
Unctuous: greasy/oily: also great for a slippery, insincere character
Blood, violence & the viscera
Sanguine: blood-red; also (confusingly, deliberately) hopeful/cheerful
Ichor: the ethereal "blood" of gods or otherworldly beings
Visceral: gut-deep, instinctual, bodily
Rend / rive: to tear violently apart
Immolate: to kill by fire, often ritually
Feral: wild, savage, beyond domestication
Baleful: menacing, foreboding harm
Magic & the arcane
Arcane: mysterious, known only to initiates
Occult: hidden, secret, supernatural
Thrall: one bound in servitude, often magical
Glamour: an illusion cast over appearance
Sigil: a symbol used in ritual/magic
Ward: a protective charm or barrier
Fey: otherworldly, touched by faerie; unpredictable and strange
Chthonic: of the underworld or deities beneath the earth
Eldritch: weird and sinister in a supernatural way
Runic: inscribed with mystical symbols
Scry: to see distant/future things by magical means
Fire, ash & heat
Conflagration: a large, destructive fire
Pyre: a structure for burning a body
Smolder: to burn slowly without flame; also, restrained intensity
Cinder / ember: the last glowing remains of fire
Sere: dry, withered, scorched
Scent
Redolent: strongly reminiscent of a smell (or memory)
Musty: stale, damp, old-smelling
Fetid: foul-smelling, rotten
Acrid: sharp, bitter, burning smell
Emotion & mood
Melancholic: a deep, wistful sadness
Wistful: yearning tinged with sadness
Forlorn: abandoned, pitifully sad
Anguish: severe mental or physical suffering
Trepidation: fearful anticipation, dread
Ennui: listless boredom, a weariness of spirit
Reverence: deep respect mixed with awe (or fear)
Disquiet: unease, a low hum of wrongness
Architecture & space
Vaulted: arched, cathedral-like overhead
Cloister: an enclosed, often monastic space
Buttress: a supporting structure, literal or metaphorical
Threshold: a doorway; also any liminal boundary
Warren: a maze of interconnected passages
Parapet: a low protective wall along a roof or bridge
Character & Presence
Wraithlike: thin, ghostly, insubstantial
Imperious: see above: commanding presence
Enigmatic: mysterious, resistant to interpretation
Taciturn: habitually silent, saying little
Impassive: showing no emotion; unreadable
Beguiling: charming in a way that's slightly dangerous
Feckless: lacking resolve or purpose (good for a foil character)
Shadow, dusk & darkness
Tenebrous: dark, shadowy, gloomy
Umbral: of or relating to shadow
Stygian: hellishly dark (from the river Styx)
Benighted: overtaken by darkness; also, morally/intellectually in the dark
Caliginous: misty, dim, obscure
Sepulchral: deathly, tomb-like, hollow (voice, silence, cold)
Fuliginous: sooty, smoky dark
Crypt-dark (coined, use freely): absolute, airless dark
Silence, sound & voice
Susurrus: a whispering, rustling murmur (leaves, voices, silk)
Sibilant: hissing in sound
Keening: a wailing lament, high and sustained
Reverberant: echoing, resounding
Sonorous: deep, resonant, imposing in sound
Muffled hush / pall of silence: silence with weight, as after a death
Timbre: the color/quality of a sound or voice
Threnody: a song of mourning
Death, decay & the uncanny
Cadaverous: corpse-like, gaunt and pallid
Macabre: disturbing, death-obsessed
Charnel: relating to death and decaying flesh (charnel house)
Moribund: dying, at the point of death
Necrotic: dead or dying tissue
Ossuary: a repository for bones
Miasma: a foul, unwholesome atmosphere or vapor
Uncanny / eldritch: wrong in a way the mind can't quite place
Liminal: occupying a threshold; neither one state nor the other
Numinous: charged with divine or spiritual presence: awe, not comfort
Time, age & ruin
Antediluvian: ancient beyond memory (lit. "before the flood")
Primordial: existing from the very beginning
Vestigial: a remnant of something once whole
Timeworn: worn down by the passage of years
Superannuated: obsolete through age; outlived its era
Moldering: decaying slowly, crumbling with age
Labyrinthine: maze-like, endlessly winding
Weather, water & sky
Squall: a sudden, violent gust or storm
Petrichor: the scent of rain on dry earth
Roil / roiling: turbulent, churning motion
Firmament: the sky, the heavens (elevated, biblical register)
Tempest: a violent storm, literal or emotional
Brackish: salty/foul water, neither fresh nor sea
Cold, frost & ice
Rime: a white frost formed from freezing fog
Glacial: icy, painfully slow, or emotionally cold
Permafrost: permanently frozen ground
Hoarfrost: feathery ice crystals on a surface
Movement & gesture
Sinuous: (also texture) winding, fluid movement
Languid: slow, relaxed, heavy with ease
Furtive: secretive, stealthy, sidelong
Sidle: to move sideways, cautiously or evasively
Prowl: to move stealthily, predator-like
Genuflect: to kneel in reverence or submission
Royalty, power & ceremony
Imperious: commanding, arrogantly assured of obedience
Regal / sovereign: bearing the authority of rulers
Retinue: a body of attendants serving a noble figure
Fealty: sworn loyalty, especially feudal
Usurp: to seize power unlawfully
Interregnum: a gap between reigns; a power vacuum
Unusual color
Sable: black (heraldic term, elegant register)
Nacreous: pearly, mother-of-pearl sheen
Ashen: pale gray, drained of color
Verdigris: the blue-green patina on aged copper/bronze
Umber / ochre: earthy browns and yellows
Nature & wilderness
Verdant: lush, green, thriving
Fecund: fertile, abundantly productive
Bramble / thicket: dense, tangled undergrowth
Copse: a small cluster of trees
Fen / moor: wetland or open, exposed wild land
A note on use: one precise, slightly unfamiliar word does more work than three fancy ones. Reach for these when a scene needs a single word to carry the weight, not when dark or old would do the job fine.