noun
- 01 C1 Advanced
n.an object in a computer program that you can do something to.
n.an entity within a user interface or programming environment to which an action or transformation is applied.
Simple“In this software, you select the noun first and then choose an action from the menu.”
In context“The system architecture follows a noun-verb interaction model, where the user first identifies the target object before selecting the appropriate command.”
- 02 C2 Proficiency
v.to change a word from another part of speech into a noun.
v.to convert a word belonging to another lexical category into a noun through functional shift or affixation.
Simple“People often noun verbs in office talk, like saying 'a big ask'.”
In context“The tendency to noun adjectives is a common feature of certain academic registers, though it can lead to prose that feels overly dense.”
Synonymsnominalize
From Middle English noun, from Anglo-Norman noun, non, nom, from Latin nōmen (“name; noun”). The grammatical sense in Latin was a semantic loan from Koine Greek ὄνομα (ónoma). Doublet of name and nomen.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.