0

The words that express the tangible and visible things of our experience, such as sand or sea, are all nouns, as are those expressing intangibles such as love or idealism.

Also, some nouns, like field or grain, can be imagined both as tangible and intangible.

People, generally, refer to these nouns with the terms concrete (tangible) and abstract (intangible).

That being said, my question is, is there an English dictionary that—as well as identifying a word as a noun—additionally identifies the noun as either “abstract” or “concrete”? Are there any other resources that do this?

Improve this question
11
  • Could you start by distinguishing them yourself? What do you mean by abstract and concrete? Could you give us some examples?
    – terdon
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 16:11
  • Different terms can mean different things to different people. I was taught at school that some nouns can be "concrete" (like chair) and some "abstract" (like beauty). Others may have different terms for that distinction. If that's the distinction you meant, please say so.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 16:17
  • 2
    Also please chill out a little, your question is not clear since it is the concepts that the words represent that can be abstract or concrete and this is not a grammatical but a semantic difference. I asked for a clarification to be able to help you better and you replied with a rude comment. That is not how we expect users to behave here.
    – terdon
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 16:19
  • 5
    We know it is not your first language, that is a good reason to excuse the mistakes in your question, it is no reason to excuse your rudeness however. Also, if you had taken the time to check what this site is tour you would have realized that it is not designed to help people who are learning English. You might want to check out English Language Learners but they won;t help you either unless you can be civil.
    – terdon
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 16:49
  • 2
    If you mean countable vs. uncountable/mass, then pretty much every dictionary will contain that information. If you mean something else, you must clarify what you mean, or at the very least what you need it for. As you can see, there are any number of people who are not familiar with the terms and yet are fluent in the language, so chances are you don't need it either and should focus on stuff that actually matters. Again, hard to tell without knowing what you actually have in mind.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 17:45

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3

In English, "concrete" and "abstract" are not grammatical classifications. This is unlike (for example) "masculine" and "feminine" in French, and "uncountable" and "countable" in English. For both of these cases, there are nouns which one might think are masculine (or countable) from their meaning, but actually are feminine (or uncountable). For example, you can ask why "peas" are countable but "rice" is uncountable. Or in French, why is it "le cigar" but "la pipe". There's no real reason; it's just grammar.

However, anybody can sort nouns into "concrete" and "abstract" based on their definitions, and nobody will be able to say that they did it incorrectly. Since there isn't a definitive classification, dictionaries don't give it.

Improve this answer
3
  • '"[U]ncountable" and "countable" [nouns] in English [are grammatical classifications]'. True. I think it's worth pointing out that such usage may accord with or fly in the face of logic: '...mass nouns such as "water" or "furniture", with which only singular verb forms are used because the [term used] is 'grammatically nondiscrete' (although [the referent] may {"water"} or may not {"furniture"} be etically nondiscrete).' [Wikipedia, 'mass noun', modified] [and notice that the 'because' is misused, as it introduces a paraphrase rather than a real explanation]
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 30, 2013 at 8:50
  • 1
    There is a reason why "peas" are countable but "rice" not. Do you know the German term "Erbsenzähler"? ;)
    – Em1
    Commented Aug 30, 2013 at 8:51
  • 1
    At the risk of being labelled a nit-picker (my son is a bean-counter), I'll venture: that should be 'pea' is countable. Although I'd ask for 'less peas', especially if they were mushy. (A real pedant would add that 'rice' can be.)
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 30, 2013 at 14:52
2

Your question is really predicated on the assumption that the abstract / concrete partition of nouns is accepted as axiomatic.

That there is still a lot of analysis to be done is evident from the fact that there are only about 7 distinct Google hits for the term 'second order noun'. However, from one of them is the following:

Four orders of entities:

Lyons (1977...) presents a three-way typology of entities, which refines the traditional distinction between concrete and abstract nouns...

Entities of the first order are physical objects, i.e. persons, animals and things...

Entities of the second order are events, processes, states-of-affairs etc...[arrival, error...]

Entities of the third order are such abstract entities as propositions [beliefs, ideas...]

[and Hengeveld postulates a fourth order:]

Entities of the fourth order are speech acts [question, command...]

( http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l7UWMZq7FGIC&pg=PR13&lpg=PR13&dq=%22second+order+noun%22&source=bl&ots=bm-uk-g8Dh&sig=ilf32ju-4MT2pVAlBz5qUcuyyMk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZdAfUszWOuir7AaJ4oCgCg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22second%20order%20noun%22&f=false )

I still wouldn't be happy to include 'hole', 'vacuum'... in any of these categories.

See Is "12:30" (the time of day) an abstract noun? .

Improve this answer
1

It would be difficult to provide a list, as some words can be tangible and intangible, dependent on the context.

e.g.

The chair presided over the meeting.
The chair is in the kitchen.

In the first sentence, the chair refers to someones position or title, which is intangible.
In the second, the chair is a physical object that you sit upon, which makes it tangible.

English is a difficult language 1, which is why sites like this exist. Unfortunately, I do not think a list/book/dictionary that has the information you desire exists in an easy format. A reference dictionary like the OED could help, but practice is the best teacher.

Improve this answer
2
  • You're confusing senses 3a and 3b below: 3. a. An office or position of authority, such as a professorship. b. A person who holds an office or a position of authority, such as one who presides over a meeting or administers a department of instruction at a college; a chairperson. [AHD] 3b is a concrete sense: 'The chair[person] presided over the meeting.' 'Tolkien held the Chair of English Language and Medieval Literature' is a valid example of an abstract sense.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 22:26
  • 1
    There is a philosophical (and psycholinguistic) complication as well as the different polysemes issue - how should 'entities?' 'concepts?' such as silence, hole, space, shadow, heat, humidity - which are perceivable using suitable senses but hardly tangible - be classified?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 29, 2013 at 22:33

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.