noun

American  

[noun] / naʊn /

noun

Grammar.

1. any member of a class of words that can function as the main or only elements of subjects of verbs (A dog just barked), or of objects of verbs or prepositions (to send money fromhome ), and that in English can take plural forms and possessive endings (Three of his buddies want to borrow John's laptop). Nouns are often described as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities, and the word noun is itself often used as an attributive modifier, as in

   Synonyms:

   name, substantive

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noun British  

/ naʊn /

noun

1. Abbreviation: N.   n. 

   1. a word or group of words that refers to a person, place, or thing or any syntactically similar word

   2. ( as modifier )

      a noun phrase

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noun Cultural  

1. The part of speech that names a person, place, thing, or idea. The following words are nouns: child, town, granite, kindness, government, elephant, and Taiwan. In sentences, nouns generally function as subjects or as objects.

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Grammar

Most of us learned the classic definition of noun back in elementary school, where we were told simply that “a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.” That's not a bad beginning; it even clues us in to the origin of the word, since noun is derived ultimately from the Latin word nōmen, which means “name.” As we see from its dictionary definition, a noun can name not only a physical thing but also abstract things such as a state ( happiness ) or a quality ( beauty ). The word is defined further in terms of the way it functions in the language—as a subject or object in a sentence or as the object of a preposition. In any of those positions, it can be modified by an adjective or adjective phrase: a talented but quirky artist. Nouns are typically said to fall into two categories: proper noun and common noun. A proper noun designates a particular person, place, or thing and is normally capitalized: Shakespeare, Mexico, the Pentagon. A common noun refers to a generic person, place, or thing: teacher, classroom, smartphone. The plural form of a common noun names a set or group. (Proper nouns are pluralized only in special circumstances: There are many Springfields in the United States. Oh, no, the Smiths are coming to dinner again. ) To form the plural, most common nouns simply add an -s ( teachers, classrooms, smartphones ). Some nouns ending in –o (but not all) add -es. Nouns ending in the sounds , , , , , or also have plurals ending in -es ( bus/buses, ash, ashes, judge/judges ). Several nouns form the plural in a different way. These include child/children, knife/knives, and a number of others. Some nouns have a plural form identical to that of the singular: sheep/sheep. Seven English nouns form their plural by changing the vowel in the middle of the word: woman/women, man/men, goose/geese, tooth/teeth, foot/feet, louse/lice. (Can you think of the seventh one?*) And then, of course, there are nouns borrowed from other languages that keep their non-English plurals ( bacterium/bacteria, chapeau/chapeaux, kibbutz/kibbutzim ). But not all nouns can be pluralized. Thus we have another way to categorize nouns. Those that can be thought of in the plural are called count nouns; the things they name can be counted and enumerated. Other nouns, called mass nouns or noncount nouns, name things that are usually not counted, even when the amount grows larger. This class includes nouns that refer to a substance ( water, sand, oxygen, electricity ), a quality ( kindness, honesty ), or an abstract concept ( happiness, health ). There are exceptions: some substances can be spoken of in the plural if you are referring to various kinds ( The wines of France are known throughout the world ) or to units or containers of the substance ( We’ll have three coffees and two teas ). Certain other nouns that name something relatively concrete, like furniture, flatware, hardware, and software, are also treated as mass nouns. This means that in English we do not say “This computer comes with the latest softwares.” Nor do we say “I’m buying a furniture” (although we can buy a couch or a table ), since mass nouns normally cannot be immediately preceded by “a,” “an,” or a numeral. Instead, we use the singular form even when referring to large quantities, saying things like “a lot of software” or “too much furniture.” This distinction between count nouns and mass nouns, complex though it may seem, is pretty much absorbed automatically if you grow up speaking English. But it can be one of the most difficult things to assimilate for people learning English as a foreign language. The answer? Read, read, read. And listen. * mouse/mice

Usage

What is a noun? A noun is a word used to refer to a person, place, or thing, such as Tayla, Peru, and dog. A noun can also refer to an abstract concept, such as peace, and an activity, like hunting.Nouns work with verbs to make sentences, such as Cats run or Water flows. Nouns can act as the subject or the object of a sentence, as in Steve runs marathons. They can be singular (flower) or plural (flowers).There are a lot of different kinds of nouns. The major kinds of nouns are common nouns, proper nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns.Common nouns refer to things broadly or generically. They don’t refer to a specific thing and aren’t capitalized. Common nouns include words like sports, hamburger, and trash.Proper nouns refer to specific people, places, or things that often have names. Proper nouns are capitalized and include words like Tuesday, Russia, Albert Einstein, and Microsoft.Abstract nouns refer to ideas and things that can’t actually be experienced with our senses. These nouns include words like anger, economy, and strength. The opposite of abstract nouns are concrete nouns, which are things we can experience with our senses, like books and ice cream.A collective noun is a noun that refers to a group that acts as a single unit or is performing an action at the same time. Collective nouns include words like squad, herd, and gang.The majority of the words in the English language are nouns, and new ones are added all of the time as the world changes around us.

Other Word Forms

• nounal adjective
• nounally adverb
• nounless adjective

Etymology

Origin of noun

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English nowne, from Anglo-French noun, from Latin nōmen “name”; name

Compare meaning

How does noun compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• noun vs. verb
• noun vs. proper noun

Example Sentences

The Merriam-Webster promotional copy makes a point to mention the inclusion of the TikTok slang “rizz,” whose noun form is defined as “romantic appeal or charm.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The noun in “Is This Thing On?” is a marriage, not a microphone, although a microphone turns out to be a novel way to restart a relationship.

From The Wall Street Journal

I don’t think there’s any directive that you have to have a noun in your title that refers to a woman, whether it’s wife, girl, sister.

From Salon

“Philosophical problems arise when language goes on holiday,” he wrote, and philosophy is full of vacationing abstract nouns.

From The Wall Street Journal

But, despite his best efforts not to dwell on the stakes of his work, the noun “rebellion” was never far from his mind.

From Los Angeles Times