The 40 tells · Words · No. 13
Why "vibrant" makes writing sound machine-made
Flagged "Vibrant"
"Vibrant community", "vibrant colours", "vibrant neighbourhood". It is a pleasant, empty word that turns up whenever a writer needs an adjective and doesn't have a fact.
Readers can't picture "vibrant". They can picture what made it feel that way.
Before
Join our vibrant community of creators.
After
About 400 people post their work here every week, and most posts get a comment from someone who isn't the author.
The fix
Swap it for the concrete thing. What does it do, in words a buyer can check?
Write this instead
- busy
- bright
- or the detail that made it feel lively
What the checker matches
Any of these, in any case:
- vibrant