Meaning & use
wonderful person
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
Someone you think is extremely good, kind, or admirable.
Grammar: Countable phrase; use 'a' before it and add -s to 'person' (people) in the plural: two wonderful people.
Patterns
- a wonderful person to work with
- be a wonderful person
My grandmother was a wonderful person who helped everyone in the neighborhood.
He's a wonderful person to have on your team when things get difficult.
She said her teacher was a wonderful person who made every lesson interesting.
nouncountableinformal
Used to praise someone for doing something helpful or generous at a particular moment.
Grammar: Often used directly to or about someone just after they have done something kind.
Patterns
- You are a wonderful person for doing something
- be a wonderful person to someone
You're a wonderful person for driving me to the airport so early.
That was a wonderful thing to do — you really are a wonderful person.
Word forms
| plural | wonderful people |
|---|
Common combinations
- a truly wonderful person
- Everyone at the office agrees she is a truly wonderful person.
- a wonderful person to know
- He is a wonderful person to know if you ever need advice.
- a wonderful person to work with
- Her colleagues describe her as a wonderful person to work with.
- such a wonderful person
- I've never met such a wonderful person in my life.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lovely person
- Warmer and more informal, and common in British English; it suggests charm rather than general excellence.
- great person
- More casual and less emphatic than 'wonderful person', and very common in everyday speech.
- gem
- Informal and figurative; it stresses that someone is unusually kind or valuable, as in 'She's a real gem'.
Opposites
Word family
- wonderful adjective
- Extremely good or enjoyable.
- wonderfully adverb
- In an extremely good or pleasing way.
- wonder noun
- A feeling of surprise and admiration, or something that causes it.
Commonly confused: wonderful person or wondrous? wonderful person or wanderful?
wonderful person vs wondrous
'Wondrous' is literary and means 'strange and marvelous', used mainly about things or events, not people.
wonderful person vs wanderful
Not a real word; learners sometimes misspell 'wonderful' this way because of the verb 'wander'.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase most naturally?
Choose one answer.
'A wonderful person to work with' follows the normal pattern 'a ... person to + verb'. The other options either put the article in the wrong place or use the wrong preposition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wonderful person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.