700+ Power Words to Use in Headlines, Resumes, and Email Subjects

March 13, 2021

Power words are certain words that copywriters use that tend to draw an emotional response from people. They can be used to increase clickthroughs on ads, open rates in emails, and even response rates on job applications.

Read more:

What Are Power Words?

Power words are certain words used by marketers and copywriters that have been shown to evoke an emotional response from people. These emotions range from curiosity (for example: “5 celebrities who spent time in jail”) to anger (for example: “Climate change is a myth made up by the Democrats”) and everything in between. To help you find the best power words to use in your next ad, headline, or email subject we have compiled a list of the best power words below. We’ve organized the list by emotion that they evoke so you can quickly skim the list for the best ones.

Table of Contents

The List of Power Words

Action Words

Action words are great power words for resumes and other places where you want to describe what actions you took.

Accelerated
Accomplished
Achieved
Advised
Analyzed
Arranged
Assembled
Augmented
Authored
Brainstormed
Briefed
Built
Capitalized
Centralized
Championed
Communicated
Conceptualized
Constructed
Created
Curated
Deciphered
Delivered
Derived
Designed
Developed
Diagramed
Differentiated
Directed
Discerned
Drafted
Drove
Edited
Empowered
Enacted
Endeavored
Endorsed
Enforced
Ensured
Established
Exceeded
Executed
Expanded
Finalized
Forecasted
Forged
Fostered
Founded
Guided
Handled
Headed
Identified
Illustrated
Imagined
Implemented
Improved
Increased
Influenced
Initiated
Instituted
Integrated
Intensified
Leveraged
Modeled
Optimized
Orchestrated
Predicted
Produced
Proofread
Published
Reached
Reconciled
Reduced
Renovated
Replaced
Researched
Resolved
Sharpened
Shattered
Simplified
Sparked
Spearheaded
Steered
Stimulated
Storyboarded
Strategized
Supervised
Surpassed
Translated
Visualized
Volunteered
Wrote

Emotion: Anger

The following words evoke the emotion of anger. These words are good for promotional materials where there’s an element of competition (such as for a gym).

Abuse
Agitate
Annoy
Annoying
Arrogant
Ass kicking
B.S.
Backstabbing
Beat down
Bitter
Boil over
Broke
Brutal
Buffoon
Bullshit
Bully
Corrupt
Coward
Crooked
Crush
Diatribe
Diminish
Disgusting
Evil
Exploit
Fear
Flare up
Force-fed
Foul
frantic
Frenzy
furious
Fury
Greedy
Grumpy
Hate
Hatred
Hostile
Hysterics
Irritating
Know it all
Lies
Loathsome
Loser
Lying
Maul
Miff
Money-grubbing
Morally bankrupt
Nazi
No Good
Obnoxious
Panic
Payback
Pitiful
Pound
Preposterous
Provoke
Punish
Rage
raging
Raise hell
Rant
Revolting
Ruthless
Screw
Sick and Tired
Smug
Sneaky
Sniveling
Snob
Snooty
Snotty
Stink
Stuck up
Tantrum
Thug
To sulk
Underhanded
Vicious
Victim
Violent
Waste
Weak
Worst
Wounded

Emotion: Curiosity

Curiosity words are great for marketing where you are trying to get a customer to sign up or buy your product to fulfill their curiosity.

Astonishing
Backdoor
Banned
Be the first
Become an insider
Behind the scenes
Bizarre
Black market
Blacklisted
Bold
Bootleg
Censored
Class full
Classified
Closet
Concealed
Confessions
Confidential
Controversial
Covert
Cover-up
Crazy
Cringeworthy
Dark
Elusive
Exciting
Extraordinary
Eye-opening
Fascinating
Forbidden
Forgotten
Hidden
Hilarious
Hush-hush
Illegal
Illusive
Incredibly
Insane
Insider
Interesting
Intriguing
Invitation only
Key
Limited
Little-known
Login required
Lost
Members only
Myths
Odd
Off the record
Off-limits
On the QT
Outlawed
Priceless
Private
Privy
Psycho
Remote
Restricted
Ridiculous
Riveting
Secret
Secrets
Shh!
Shocking
Smuggled
Sneak peek
Spoiler
Strange
Stunning
Supersecret
Tempting
Thought-provoking
Thrilling
Top secret
Trade secret
Transform
Unauthorized
Unbelievable
Uncharted
Unconventional
Under the table
Under wraps
Underground
Undiscovered
Unexplained
Unexplored
Unheard of
Unique
Unlock
Unsung
Untold
Unusual
Wacky
Withheld
Zany

Emotion: Exclamatory

Exclamatory words are also great words for marketing. However, you should be wary of being misleading when using these words.

Alluring
Amazing
Astonishing
Astounding
Awesome
Badass
Bomb
Brilliant
Catapult
Charming
Defying
Delicious
Delightful
Dominate
Dreamy
Epic
Explosive
Exquisite
Greatness
Heavenly
Incredible
Jaw-dropping
Kickass
Legendary
Mesmerizing
Mouth-watering
Nail
Polarizing
Spellbinding
Sublime
Triumph
Unbelievable
Unleashed

Emotion: Fear

Words of fear can be good for marketing if you’re trying to scare a customer into purchasing your product. They are also good words to use in newspaper headlines.