A person who remains helpful, brave, or cheerful through difficulty.
Reach for it when offering affectionate informal praise for someone enduring an unpleasant situation
The young trooper stayed patient through the long series of tests.
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| warm |
|
| professional | |
| formal |
playful
good sport
Fits when cheerful cooperation despite inconvenience is meant
Careful Good sport trivializes grave pain and focuses agreeableness.
playful
Fits when reliable hard work is the focus
Careful Workhorse reduces a person to output and should not praise endurance through suffering.
everyday
fighter
Fits when active resistance to difficulty is central
Careful Fighter can impose a battle metaphor on illness or grief.
warm
brave soul
Fits when compassionate, informal admiration fits
Careful The phrase can sound patronizing.
professional
Fits when living through serious harm is the relevant fact
Careful Do not assign survivor to someone who does not use it for themselves.
formal
Fits when dependable courage and loyalty deserve dignity
Careful Stalwart is elevated and may overstate a brief discomfort.
real trooper
She was a real trooper during the delay, though nobody expected her to hide discomfort.
little trooper
Calling a child a little trooper should not replace listening when they say it hurts.
such a trooper
Omar was such a trooper about the move and still received time to grieve it.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Commander Keane, Australian accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
Your browser isn't saving lists, so this one will be cleared when you leave the page.