Concrete Noun | Definition, Examples & Worksheet
A concrete noun is a noun that refers to a physical thing, person, or place—something or someone that can be perceived with the five senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste). Examples include “pencil,” “dog,” “Timbuktu,” and “Patricia.”
Concrete nouns are contrasted with abstract nouns, which are words such as “politeness” describing concepts that you can’t perceive directly with the senses.
A cat ran across the garden and climbed the fence.
Jan was supposed to be flying to Amsterdam, but he forgot his passport and didn’t realize until he got to the airport.
Concrete nouns vs. abstract nouns
Concrete nouns differ from abstract nouns in terms of the things they describe:
- Concrete nouns refer to anything that can be perceived with the senses, including things, people, animals, and places.
- Abstract nouns refer to anything that is not directly observable. These might be qualities, time designations and measurements, or philosophical ideas.
Terry experienced some anxiety about her reputation.
The same word may often be considered abstract in one sense and concrete in another. For example, consider words that have distinct literal and figurative meanings.
The atmosphere in the house is tense due to Mundheep’s insensitive comments.
Concrete noun examples
Concrete nouns only refer to things that can be perceived in some physical way, but that’s obviously a huge number of different things. The table below provides examples of concrete nouns referring to various different kinds of things.
It’s important to note that, as shown in the table, a noun is still generally regarded as concrete if it describes something physical that can’t be perceived with the senses alone (e.g., an atom that can only be perceived using a powerful microscope).
| Objects and substances | smartphone, pencil, glasses, chair, window, skirt, rice, water, oxygen |
|---|---|
| Types of living beings (by species, profession, etc.) | duck, human, oak, bacteria, dog, postal worker, president, schoolteacher, criminal, mathematician, foodie, vampire |
| Individual living beings (real, fictional, or mythical) | Fido, Nathalie, Dr. Wilson, Grandma, Julius Caesar, Confucius, Emily Dickinson, Parvati, Lisa Simpson |
| Types of places | house, river, street, field, mountain, forest, peninsula, galaxy, seabed |
| Specific places | Vienna, Libya, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Jupiter, Delhi, the Nile, the University of Amsterdam, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Himalayas |
Worksheet: Concrete vs. abstract nouns
Want to test your understanding of the difference between concrete and abstract nouns? Try the worksheet below. Just decide whether each highlighted noun is concrete or abstract.
- The dog seemed to enjoy its dinner.
- The price of adhering to one’s principles can be high.
- The name of my cat is Whiskers.
- The foundations of the house have begun to sink due to a lack of maintenance.
- My neighbor John has some questionable ideas about politics.
- The dog seemed to enjoy its dinner.
- Both “dog” and “dinner” are concrete nouns, since they represent physical entities in the world.
- The price of adhering to one’s principles is sometimes high.
- “Price” and “principles” are both abstract nouns because you can’t touch or see a principle or a price (although you might see something representing a price, so a noun like “price tag” would be considered concrete).
- The name of my cat is Whiskers.
- The concept of a name is abstract. “Cat” is a concrete noun because a cat is a physical being. “Whiskers” is concrete whether you take it to mean the speaker’s cat or simply the word “Whiskers” in its use as a name—both of these can be perceived with the senses.
- The foundations of the house have begun to sink due to a lack of maintenance.
- “Foundations” and “house” both represent specific physical things and are therefore concrete nouns. “Lack” and “maintenance” are both more conceptual and are therefore abstract.
- My neighbor John has some questionable ideas about politics.
- Both the common noun “neighbor” and the proper noun “John” (here used as an appositive) are concrete nouns, since they refer to people. “Ideas” and “politics” are both abstract because they refer to concepts rather than physical things.
Other interesting language articles
If you want to know more about commonly confused words, definitions, common mistakes, and differences between US and UK spellings, make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a concrete noun?
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A concrete noun is a noun describing a physical entity that can be perceived with the senses. Concrete nouns may refer to things (e.g., “phone,” “hat”), places (e.g., “France,” “the post office”), or people and animals (e.g., “dog,” “doctor,” “Jamal”).
Concrete nouns are contrasted with abstract nouns, which refer to things that can’t be directly perceived—ideas, theories, concepts, and so on. Examples include “happiness,” “condemnation,” “ethics,” and “time.”
- What is an abstract noun?
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An abstract noun is a noun describing something that can’t be directly perceived with the senses.
Abstract nouns may refer to general or philosophical concepts (e.g., “art,” “democracy,” “evidence”), emotions and personal qualities (e.g., “happiness,” “impatience”), time measurements (e.g., “hours,” “January”), or states of being (e.g., “solidity,” “instability”).
Abstract nouns are the opposite of concrete nouns, which refer to physical things that can be perceived with the senses: objects, substances, places, people and animals, and so on. For example, “window,” “Dorian,” and “sand.”
- What are the different types of nouns?
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There are many ways to categorize nouns into various types, and the same noun can fall into multiple categories or even change types depending on context.
Some of the main types of nouns are:
Sources in this article
We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.
This Scribbr articleCaulfield, J. (2023, April 18). Concrete Noun | Definition, Examples & Worksheet. Scribbr. Retrieved January 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/nouns-and-pronouns/concrete-noun/
Aarts, B. (2011). Oxford modern English grammar. Oxford University Press.
Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015). Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Garner, B. A. (2016). Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
