- a noun that refers to an extended substance rather than to each of a set of isolable objects, as, for example, water as opposed to lake. In English when used indefinitely they are characteristically preceded by some rather than a or an; they do not have normal plural forms
Compare count noun
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024
ˈmass ˈnoun, n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024- a noun that refers to a quantity or mass of things seen as a whole or collection, and therefore not normally having a plural. A mass noun like sugar or sand does not have a plural, unless we refer to a measure or type or kind of such a thing:The noncount meaning of the mass noun sugar appears in "I like sugar.'' The count meaning of the mass noun sugar appears in: "How many sugars (= spoons, packets, or lumps of sugar) do you want in your coffee?''
mass′ noun′, [Gram.]
- Grammara noun, as water, electricity, or happiness, that typically refers to an indefinitely divisible substance or an abstract notion, and that in English cannot be used, in such a sense, with the indefinite article or in the plural.
- 1930–35
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
mass noun n
'mass noun' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):