Noun
noun
A word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance, or quality.
In the sentence 'She reads a book', 'She' and 'book' are nouns.
Often appears as...
- countable noun
- uncountable noun
noun
In grammar, a word that is the subject of a verb.
In the sentence 'The dog chased its tail', 'dog' and 'tail' are nouns.
Often appears as...
- direct object noun
- subject noun
Usage tips
Academic
noun
A word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance, or quality.
In the sentence 'She reads a book', 'She' and 'book' are nouns.
Often appears as...
- countable noun
- uncountable noun
noun
In grammar, a word that is the subject of a verb.
In the sentence 'The dog chased its tail', 'dog' and 'tail' are nouns.
Often appears as...
- direct object noun
- subject noun
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Noun Varieties
Nouns have types like common, proper, concrete, abstract. Each refers to different kinds of entities.
Proper noun: 'Paris'; common noun: 'city'; concrete noun: 'chair'; abstract noun: 'beauty'.
Pro Tip 2/3Visual Identification
Nouns often follow articles like 'a', 'an', or 'the', which can help you spot them in sentences.
In the phrase 'an apple', 'apple' is the noun because it follows the article 'an'.
Pro Tip 3/3Noun Plurality
Nouns can be singular or plural, indicating one or multiple items respectively.
Singular noun: 'book'; Plural noun: 'books'.
Pro Tip 1/3Noun Varieties
Nouns have types like common, proper, concrete, abstract. Each refers to different kinds of entities.
Proper noun: 'Paris'; common noun: 'city'; concrete noun: 'chair'; abstract noun: 'beauty'.
Pro Tip 2/3Visual Identification
Nouns often follow articles like 'a', 'an', or 'the', which can help you spot them in sentences.
In the phrase 'an apple', 'apple' is the noun because it follows the article 'an'.
Pro Tip 3/3Noun Plurality
Nouns can be singular or plural, indicating one or multiple items respectively.
Singular noun: 'book'; Plural noun: 'books'.
Pro Tip 1/3Noun Varieties
Nouns have types like common, proper, concrete, abstract. Each refers to different kinds of entities.
Proper noun: 'Paris'; common noun: 'city'; concrete noun: 'chair'; abstract noun: 'beauty'.
Pro Tip 2/3Visual Identification
Nouns often follow articles like 'a', 'an', or 'the', which can help you spot them in sentences.
In the phrase 'an apple', 'apple' is the noun because it follows the article 'an'.
Pro Tip 3/3Noun Plurality
Nouns can be singular or plural, indicating one or multiple items respectively.
Singular noun: 'book'; Plural noun: 'books'.
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Video examples
Yoda Lingo 101 PIPE StarTalk
and I said, hey, this is nice-- they use it halfway, and I said, can I do it all the time? They said yeah. The way I view it is, Yoda is-- This is where adjectives and nouns are switched in places-- I'm not smart enough enough to know what an adjective or a noun is. Yeah, the sentence is fully understandable but clearly
Video examples
How language shapes the...
That means language can shape how you're thinking about anything that can be named by a noun. That's a lot of stuff. And finally, I gave you an example of how language can shape things that have personal weight to us -- ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory. These are important things in our daily lives.
Video examples
Kevin Kelly: The next...
So the difference is, is that rather than linking from page to page, we're actually going to link from one idea on a page to another idea, rather than to the other page. So every idea is basically being supported -- or every item, or every noun -- is being supported by the entire Web.
Video examples
How Your Memory Works --...
is one of the most common experiences of memory failure. You're trying to come up with a word, most often a proper noun, but you cannot, for the life of you, retrieve it on demand. Why does this happen? Blocking on a word can occur when there's only partial
Video examples
Why is there a "b" in...
sound is never the most important aspect of spelling an English word. A word's meaning and history need to come first. To doubt means to question, to waver, to hesitate. As a noun, it means uncertainty or confusion.
Video examples
Beware of nominalizations...
Academics love them. So do lawyers, bureaucrats, business writers. I call them zombie nouns, because they consume the living. They cannibalize active verbs, they suck the lifeblood from adjectives,
Video examples
3 ways to plan for the...
You merely look after it for the next generation. So it's important that we remember, the future, we treat it like a noun. It's not. It's a verb. It requires action. It requires us to push into it.
Video examples
The ecological knowledge...
which plants are marked with I and mu prefixes that are followed by a noun a verb or even a phrase that contains the most striking feature of the plant is behavior its physical characteristics
Video examples
The genius puppetry...
to turn nouns into verbs. Well actually I prefer to say that it's an object constructed out of wood and cloth with movement built into it to persuade you to believe that it has life.
Video examples
What is love? - Brad...
What is love? Seriously, though, what is it? What is love? A verb? A noun? A universal truth? An ideal?
Video examples
Yoda Lingo 101 PIPE StarTalk
and I said, hey, this is nice-- they use it halfway, and I said, can I do it all the time? They said yeah. The way I view it is, Yoda is-- This is where adjectives and nouns are switched in places-- I'm not smart enough enough to know what an adjective or a noun is. Yeah, the sentence is fully understandable but clearly
Video examples
How language shapes the...
That means language can shape how you're thinking about anything that can be named by a noun. That's a lot of stuff. And finally, I gave you an example of how language can shape things that have personal weight to us -- ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory. These are important things in our daily lives.
Video examples
Kevin Kelly: The next...
So the difference is, is that rather than linking from page to page, we're actually going to link from one idea on a page to another idea, rather than to the other page. So every idea is basically being supported -- or every item, or every noun -- is being supported by the entire Web.
Video examples
How Your Memory Works --...
is one of the most common experiences of memory failure. You're trying to come up with a word, most often a proper noun, but you cannot, for the life of you, retrieve it on demand. Why does this happen? Blocking on a word can occur when there's only partial
Video examples
Why is there a "b" in...
sound is never the most important aspect of spelling an English word. A word's meaning and history need to come first. To doubt means to question, to waver, to hesitate. As a noun, it means uncertainty or confusion.
Video examples
Beware of nominalizations...
Academics love them. So do lawyers, bureaucrats, business writers. I call them zombie nouns, because they consume the living. They cannibalize active verbs, they suck the lifeblood from adjectives,
Video examples
3 ways to plan for the...
You merely look after it for the next generation. So it's important that we remember, the future, we treat it like a noun. It's not. It's a verb. It requires action. It requires us to push into it.
Video examples
The ecological knowledge...
which plants are marked with I and mu prefixes that are followed by a noun a verb or even a phrase that contains the most striking feature of the plant is behavior its physical characteristics
Video examples
The genius puppetry...
to turn nouns into verbs. Well actually I prefer to say that it's an object constructed out of wood and cloth with movement built into it to persuade you to believe that it has life.
Video examples
What is love? - Brad...
What is love? Seriously, though, what is it? What is love? A verb? A noun? A universal truth? An ideal?
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Ben Sasse
American Politician
The word deepfake has become a generic noun for the use of machine-learning algorithms and facial-mapping technology to digitally manipulate people's voices, bodies and faces. And the technology is increasingly so realistic that the deepfakes are almost impossible to detect.
Quote examples
Lawrence Kohlberg
American Educator
If I can see my own recollections, like many adolescents, I was a Platonic realist. I believed in the reality of ideas, of the big nouns, and believed that one's life was determined by the ideas of the true, the good, and the beautiful which one held.
Quote examples
Leonard Susskind
American Physicist
The word 'universe' is obviously not intended to have a plural, but science has evolved in such a way that we need a plural noun for something similar to what we ordinarily call our universe.
Quote examples
Stuart Scott
American Journalist
Writing is better if it's kept simple. Every sentence doesn't need to have perfect noun/verb agreement. I've said 'ain't' on the air. Because I sometimes use 'ain't' when I'm talking.
Quote examples
Fred Rogers
American Celebrity
Love isn't a perfect state of caring. It's an active noun, like 'struggle.
Quote examples
Martha Graham
American Dancer
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.
Quote examples
Lydia Millet
American Novelist
Names and other proper nouns shouldn't distract from the language.
Quote examples
Yoko Ono
American Artist
I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun.
Quote examples
Marianne Moore
American Poet
Poetry is all nouns and verbs.
Quote examples
R. Buckminster Fuller
American Inventor
God is a verb, not a noun.
Quote examples
Ben Sasse
American Politician
The word deepfake has become a generic noun for the use of machine-learning algorithms and facial-mapping technology to digitally manipulate people's voices, bodies and faces. And the technology is increasingly so realistic that the deepfakes are almost impossible to detect.
Quote examples
Lawrence Kohlberg
American Educator
If I can see my own recollections, like many adolescents, I was a Platonic realist. I believed in the reality of ideas, of the big nouns, and believed that one's life was determined by the ideas of the true, the good, and the beautiful which one held.
Quote examples
Leonard Susskind
American Physicist
The word 'universe' is obviously not intended to have a plural, but science has evolved in such a way that we need a plural noun for something similar to what we ordinarily call our universe.
Quote examples
Stuart Scott
American Journalist
Writing is better if it's kept simple. Every sentence doesn't need to have perfect noun/verb agreement. I've said 'ain't' on the air. Because I sometimes use 'ain't' when I'm talking.
Quote examples
Fred Rogers
American Celebrity
Love isn't a perfect state of caring. It's an active noun, like 'struggle.
Quote examples
Martha Graham
American Dancer
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.
Quote examples
Lydia Millet
American Novelist
Names and other proper nouns shouldn't distract from the language.
Quote examples
Yoko Ono
American Artist
I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun.
Quote examples
Marianne Moore
American Poet
Poetry is all nouns and verbs.
Quote examples
R. Buckminster Fuller
American Inventor
God is a verb, not a noun.
Example 1 of 10
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