Introduction:
In English Grammar, an abstract noun is a noun that refers to an idea, event, quality, or concept. In other words, an abstract noun names something that can’t be perceived by the five senses.
For Example: Bravery, sovereignty, growth, love, endurance, brilliance, and friendship. Contrast that with a concrete noun.
Countable and Uncountable Abstract Nouns:
Although abstract nouns tend to be uncountable (bravery, news, pleasure, tennis, exercise), numerous are countable ( a joke, an hour, an amount). But others can be both, their meanings may be differing from general to particular (great sympathy/many sympathies).
Concrete vs abstract noun
What Is a Concrete Noun?
In contrast with abstract noun, a concrete noun is a noun that can be recognized through one of the five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, or hearing). Consider the examples given below:
Example: Would anyone please answer the telephone?
In the above sentence, the noun telephone is a concrete noun: you can touch it, hear it, see it, and maybe even taste it or smell it.
Another example: After his retirement, Mr. Zampa chased his dream of snapping rainbows.
- Rainbows is a concrete noun; they can be seen.
- Zampa is also a concrete noun
- Dream and retirement are considered as abstract nouns.
We’ll discuss abstract nouns in more detail below.
| Abstract Noun | Concrete Noun |
| Extravagance | Silk |
| Success | Cash |
| Energy | Smoke |
| Relationship | Friend |
| Luck | Horseshoe |
| Love | Rainbow |
Conversion of Verbs and Adjectives into Abstract Nouns
A verb or an adjective can be converted into an abstract noun by adding a suffix and vice versa.
Take a look at the examples given below:
Converting Verbs to Abstract Nouns
- Determine – determination
- Inform – information
- Assign – assignment
- Enjoy – enjoyment
- Resist – Resistance
- Decide – decision
- Appear – Appearance
- Reflect – reflection
- Perceive – perception
- Move – movement
- Appoint – appointment
- Describe – description
- Conscious – Consciousness
- Block – blockade
Converting Adjectives to Abstract Nouns
- Silent – silence
- Independent – independence
- Probable – probability
- Possible – possibility
- Responsible – responsibility
- Mad – madness
- Happy – happiness
- Weak – weakness
- Sad – sadness
- Honest – honesty
- Able – ability
- Brave – bravery
- Truth – truthful
- Free – freedom
List of Abstract Nouns with Examples:
satisfaction, skill, anger, anxiety, , bravery, brilliance, beauty, beliefs chaos, charity, childhood, , compassion, courage, culture, curiosity, deceit, dedication, comfort, communication, democracy, talent, truth, determination, energy, failure, faith, fear, generosity, gossip, freedom, friendship, happiness, hope, imagination, hate, honesty, intelligence, joy, kindness, knowledge information, integrity, justice, justice, liberty, life, love, loyalty, luxury, misery, motivation, patience, peace, opportunity, pain, perseverance, relaxation, pleasure, pride, sacrifice, , strength, thought, trust, success, sympathy, warmth, and wisdom
Abstract Nouns List |
Examples |
| Ability | He has ability to complete the task. |
| Advantage | It’s right time to take advantage of industry. |
| Affection | Can you please show your affection to your wife. |
| Anxiety | She feels anxiety about her result. |
| Awareness | They are spreading awareness regarding Malaria. |
| Beauty | She loves your inner beauty. |
| Belief | I have strong belief in you. |
| Bravery | He displayed great bravery in war. |
| Calmness | He loves hills for calmness. |
| Care | I always take care of my belongings. |
| Childhood | Childhood memories are always cheerful. |
| Confusion | You must remove your confusion. |
| Dedication | His dedications towards his job is exemplary. |
| Disappointment | You can see the disappointment in her eyes. |
| Disturbance | Kids were disturbing everyone in the wedding. |
| Education | Education in compulsory for everyone. |
| Enmity | Stop enmity between you and your wife. |
| Envy | Remove your envy towards your roommate. |
| Failure | You should learn something from your failure. |
| Fragility | You need to come out from fragility. |
| Freedom | It is right of citizens to live with freedom. |
| Gain | He finally gained approval for a tour. |
| Generosity | Everyone praise his generosity. |
| Goal | Put your effort to achieve your goal. |
| Happiness | Everyone seeks happiness in the world. |
| Honesty | Honesty is a great virtue. |
| Intelligence | Intelligence is a key to innovate something new. |
| Justice | Justice delayed is justice denied. |
| Kindness | He is very famous for his kindness. |
| Loneliness | Try to evade your loneliness. |
| Love | He shows his love for his family. |
| Luxury | He is living a luxury life. |
| Marriage | He has decided to wear coat on his marriage. |
| Mercy | A servant seeks mercy from his boss. |
| Necessity | A mobile phone is your necessity right now. |
| Passion | I have a passion to become a doctor. |
| Patience | Show some patience before speaking. |
| Poverty | 51% people live in poverty. |
| Reality | Certain realities should be accepted. |
| Rumor | You should keep away yourself from rumors. |
| Satisfaction | He got satisfaction after seeing his mother. |
| Sleep | He is sleeping for three hours. |
| Success | He got success in his exams. |
| Tolerance | Tolerance is essential to bring peace. |
| Trust | There must be trust between relationship. |
| Unemployment | Unemployment rate is increasing day by day. |
| Victory | It’s a great victory for us against dishonesty. |
| Wisdom | He is known for his wisdom. |
| Worry | He is worried about his mother’s health. |
