| nominalization |
| Definition: The use of a verb or an adjective as a noun. |
| Example:
(1) Grammatical Nominalization (a grammatical expression is turned into a noun phrase): "The recipe involved combining two ingredient" becomes "The recipe involved the combining of two ingredients." (2) Lexical Nominalization (affixes are added to convert into a noun): difficult becomes difficulty and careless becomes carelessness. |
| Etymology: The word ultimately derives from the Latin nominalis, pertaining to a name or names. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The first citation for the word nominalize (to convert into a noun) is from 1659: "Verbs … nominalized, do admit one termination familiarly, that suffer not another." (Instructions Oratory 32) |