ODLT--The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology



abstract noun
Definition - A noun that labels an idea, a quality, an attribute, or a condition.

Example -
Judaism, anger, width, knowledge, and strength

Oxford English Dictionary -
The only citation I could find for the term was from 1876:
"Abstract nouns are sometimes used in the concrete sense … Thus nobility frequently means the whole body of persons of noble birth."
(Mason Eng. Gram. §35)



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