Abstract Nouns

The abstract noun refers to an intangible idea that cannot be perceived with the five main senses. Ideas, emotions, personality traits, and philosophical concepts fall into this category. You cannot touch or see abstract things as there is no tangible frame of reference. We can identify abstract nouns by differentiating them from concrete nouns.

Anything that can be perceived with touch, taste, smell, vision, or hearing is a concrete noun. If you can’t perceive it using the above 5 senses, then it is an abstract noun. 

For example:
Fear, anger, care, death, defeat, beauty, dream, envy, etc. 

Emotions, which are also abstract, can be processed mentally. We can feel emotions but not with our primary 5 senses. It is the brain that processes the information and informs us of the emotion we are experiencing. So, there is no tangible existence of emotions.
Besides emotions, ideas, concepts, beliefs, and personality traits can also be termed Abstract nouns. Most of the time, an abstract noun is a common noun, but intangible proper nouns can also exist.

For example:
Humanity, Wednesday, February, etc. 

You can also change verbs, adjectives, and concrete nouns into abstract nouns by adding a suffix.

For example:
Relax (verb) – Relaxation (Abstract Noun)
Friend (Concrete Noun) – Friendship (Abstract Noun)
Good (Adjective) – Goodness (Abstract Noun) 

List of Abstract Nouns

  • Ability
  • Adoration
  • Advantage
  • Adventure
  • Aggression
  • Amazement
  • Anger
  • Anguish
  • Annoyance
  • Anxiety
  • Appetite
  • Apprehension
  • Argument
  • Artistry
  • Artisty
  • Awareness
  • Awe
  • Beauty
  • Belief
  • Bravery
  • Brilliance
  • Brutality
  • Calm
  • Capitalism
  • Care
  • Causality
  • Chaos
  • Charity
  • Childhood
  • Clarity
  • Cleverness
  • Coldness
  • Comfort
  • Communication
  • Company
  • Compassion
  • Confidence
  • Confusion
  • Contentment
  • Courage
  • Crime
  • Curiosity
  • Customer Service
  • Death
  • Deceit
  • Dedication
  • Defeat
  • Delay
  • Delight
  • Democracy
  • Despair
  • Determination
  • Dexterity
  • Dictatorship
  • Disappointment
  • Disbelief
  • Dishonesty
  • Disquiet
  • Disregard
  • Disturbance
  • Divorce
  • Dream
  • Ecstasy
  • Education
  • Ego
  • Elegance
  • Envy
  • Ethics
  • Evil
  • Fact
  • Failure
  • Faith
  • Fascination
  • Fashion
  • Fear
  • Fiction
  • Fragility
  • Frailty
  • Freedom
  • Friendship
  • Gain
  • Generation
  • Generosity
  • Goal
  • Goodness
  • Gossip
  • Growth
  • Happiness
  • Hate
  • Hatred
  • Honesty
  • Honor
  • Hope
  • Horror
  • Humor
  • Hurt
  • Idea
  • Independence
  • Industrialism
  • Infancy
  • Infatuation
  • Inflation
  • Information
  • Insanity
  • Intelligence
  • Irritation
  • Joy
  • Justice
  • Kindness
  • Laughter
  • Law
  • Liberty
  • Lie
  • Life
  • Loneliness
  • Loss
  • Love
  • Loyalty
  • Luck
  • Luxury
  • Luxuty
  • Marriage
  • Maturity
  • Mercy
  • Movement
  • Music
  • Nap
  • Need
  • Omen
  • Opinion
  • Opportunity
  • Pain
  • Patience
  • Peace
  • Peculiarity
  • Perseverance
  • Philosophy
  • Pleasure
  • Poverty
  • Power
  • Pride
  • Principle
  • Reality
  • Relativity
  • Relaxation
  • Relief
  • Religion
  • Restoration
  • Rhythm
  • Riches
  • Right
  • Rumour
  • Sacrifice
  • Sadness
  • Sanity
  • Satisfaction
  • Self-Control
  • Sensitivity
  • Service
  • Shock
  • Silliness
  • Skill
  • Slavery
  • Sleep
  • Solitude
  • Sorrow
  • Speed
  • Strenght
  • Strength
  • Strictness
  • Stupidity
  • Success
  • Surprise
  • Talent
  • Thought
  • Thrill
  • Timing
  • Tiredness
  • Tolerance
  • Trend
  • Trust
  • Truth
  • Uncertainty
  • Unemployment
  • Union
  • Unreality
  • Victory
  • Wariness
  • Warmth
  • Weakness
  • Wealth
  • Weariness
  • Wisdom
  • Wit
  • Worry