noun

/naʊn/

/naʊn/

Other forms: nouns

A noun is a part of speech that serves as a subject or object. More generally, we think of a noun as a person, place, thing, or quality.

Nouns are concrete when they name people, places, or things that you can touch, see, hear, smell, or taste, like french fries, music, books, river or Paris. They are abstract when they name ideas, concepts, or emotions, like love, intelligence, or happiness. Most nouns have a singular form, meaning there is one of something, and a plural form, meaning there is more than one of something.

Definitions of noun

1. noun

   a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action
   types:

   collective noun

   a noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or things

   mass noun

   a noun that does not form plurals

   count noun

   a noun that forms plurals

   generic noun

   a noun that does not specify either masculine or feminine gender

   proper name, proper noun

   a noun that denotes a particular thing; usually capitalized

   common noun

   a noun that denotes any or all members of a class

   appositive

   a noun or noun phrase that is in apposition

   deverbal noun, verbal noun

   a noun that is derived from a verb

   adnoun

   an adjective used as a noun

   type of:

   content word, open-class word

   a word to which an independent meaning can be assigned

   substantive

   any word or group of words functioning as a noun
2. noun

   the word class that can serve as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or in apposition
   type of:

   major form class

   any of the major parts of speech of traditional grammar