Abstract nouns are things we cannot see or touch. They are often feelings or emotions, e.g. friendship, enthusiasm. Show
Examples of abstract nouns
This Page Includes...What Are Abstract Nouns? (with Examples)An abstract noun is a noun that refers to an intangible concept such as an emotion, a feeling, a quality, or an idea. In other words, an abstract noun does not refer to a physical object. It is sometimes helpful to think of an abstract noun as a word that names something that you cannot see, hear, touch, smell, or taste (i.e., something you cannot perceive with one of your five senses). For example:
More Examples of Abstract NounsHere are some more examples of abstract nouns categorized under conceptual headings:
Abstract Nouns Contrast with Concrete NounsAbstract nouns contrast with concrete noun, which denote tangible things, i.e., things that can be perceived with one of the five senses. Here is a table with some abstract and concrete nouns:
Abstract or Concrete? It Could Be Ambiguous.It is not always easy to differentiate between an abstract noun and a concrete noun, and it is not unusual for students to argue over whether a noun is abstract or concrete. For example, "laughter" is often cited as an abstract noun, but "laughter" can be heard, which would make it a concrete noun. We would agree that "laughter" is a concrete noun, but what about "love," "work," and "result"? It is fairly easy to make cases for these being concrete nouns, but they are classified as abstract nouns. Be aware that the distinction between abstract noun and concrete noun is sometimes blurry. Also, be aware that classifying a noun as abstract or concrete may depend on context or even the classifier's definition of perceivable. Look at these two examples:
Yet More Examples of Abstract NounsHere are some more examples of abstract nouns: anger, anxiety, beauty, beliefs, bravery, brilliance, chaos, charity, childhood, comfort, communication, compassion, courage, culture, curiosity, deceit, dedication, democracy, determination, energy, failure, faith, fear, freedom, friendship, generosity, gossip, happiness, hate, honesty, hope, imagination, information, integrity, intelligence, joy, justice, justice, kindness, knowledge, liberty, life, love, loyalty, luxury, misery, motivation, opportunity, pain, patience, peace, perseverance, pleasure, pride, relaxation, sacrifice, satisfaction, skill, strength, success, sympathy, talent, thought, trust, truth, warmth, and wisdom SliderWhy Abstract Nouns Are ImportantMany creative writers (particularly poets), consider abstract nouns "the enemy." Even though abstract nouns cover many of the topics that poets like to address (e.g., love, loss, sadness, loneliness), poets know that using these words or their derivatives (e.g., I was in love; he was sad; she was lonely) tells their readers very little about their subjects. For poets, the challenge is often to capture these abstract feelings using concrete nouns.
From a business-writing perspective, there is no good reason to learn about abstract nouns. However, as so many language courses cover this term, it may be worth learning about abstract nouns from a passing-your-course perspective. Remember that a noun is labelled as concrete or abstract based on its meaning not its grammatical function. In other words, abstract nouns and concrete nouns operate the same way grammatically. Key Point
Video LessonHere is a short video summarizing the difference between abstract nouns and concrete nouns:
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Next lesson > What are 5 examples of abstract noun?Love, fear, anger, joy, excitement, and other emotions are abstract nouns. Courage, bravery, cowardice, and other such states are abstract nouns. Desire, creativity, uncertainty, and other innate feelings are abstract nouns. These are just a few examples of non-concrete words that are sensed.
What are 4 examples of concrete nouns?In this sentence, horse, field, shimmer, mane, and grass are all concrete nouns because they can be experienced by one or more of the five senses, specifically, sight.
What are 3 abstract nouns?Words like love, time, beauty, and science are all abstract nouns because you can't touch them or see them.
What is abstract noun with example for class 4?An abstract noun is a noun denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object. For example, the words 'truth', 'danger', 'happiness', etc are abstract nouns.
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