100 Examples of Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns

Abstract nouns are those nouns that refer to things that cannot be perceived with senses rather they are created and understood by thought or imagination. For example: justice, hunger, health, truth.

Abstract nouns, then, refer to ideas or feelings that correspond to notions or concepts that inhabit our thoughts and often have to do with the imagination.

The concrete nouns they differ from abstract ones by having a tangible character that is perceived by the senses. For example: house, car, table.

Although this does not seem to be a very rigorous differentiation, school texts maintain the tradition of defining the nouns that can be captured by some of the the senses that human beings have as concrete, and to call abstract those that are conceived through cognitive processes such as imagination, emotion or thought.

Examples of abstract nouns

How do abstract nouns arise?

These nouns are formed, in some cases from the incorporation of a suffix to a verb, to a adjective or to a noun: the suffixes -dad Y -gum indicate "quality of" when added to an adjective. Thus, we have the abstract noun generosity (the quality of being generous), Liberty (quality of being free) and depth (quality of being deep).

Regarding the derivatives of verbs, the suffix that is usually added is -tion: imagination comes from imagining as well as education comes from educating.

However, many other abstract nouns do not have any suffix or come from another word: such is the case with afraid, love, pain, value, faith Y Calm down, forgiveness.

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