255. Nouns Made from Adjectives

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Some English nouns are made by changing an adjective spelling

WORD MAKING WITH ENDINGS IN ENGLISH

Words are created for many reasons and in many different ways. One way is by giving an existing word a new grammatical function. In English, for example, the verb GO is used as a noun in the expression have a go (see 176. Ways of Using GO, #8); and advanced, the participle of the verb ADVANCE, has become an adjective (with a slightly evolved meaning) in expressions like advanced grammar (see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #2).

In these examples, the new grammatical usage is not accompanied by any change in the form of the word. Often, however, a new usage is signalled by a form change, typically in the spelling at the end of the word. For example, the verb TREAT becomes a noun through the addition of -ment (see 249. Action Noun Endings).

Most word-changing endings in English are associated with one or more particular word classes. Thus, -ment indicates a noun, while -al indicates either a noun or an adjective (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #3). This is useful information, since it can assist both reading (as a pointer to meanings of newly-encountered words – see 177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text) and writing (offering a possible way to express a particular meaning). Hence, improving familiarity with common endings in English and the word class(es) they typically indicate can be a worthwhile language development activity.

In this blog, the above-mentioned posts on action noun endings (which make nouns from verbs) and multi-word suffixes are partly aimed at assisting this familiarity (along with 106. Word-Like Suffixes and 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb). Here, nouns made from adjectives are the main topic, but adjectives made from nouns are also briefly considered.

One area where this information can prove useful is indirect questions involving the idea of how + adjective, e.g. how useful / relevant is…. These are often (but not always) replaceable by the adjective’s related noun + of (the usefulness / relevance of…) – fewer words and more elegant-sounding (see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words). Another area is the construction of paraphrases in order to avoid “plagiarism” or poor style (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds).

Also useful to know is the fact that an adjective and its related noun often work with other words in the same way. For example, happy and happiness both allow a following with; willing and willingness both allow a following to verb. There are, however, some problematic exceptions, notably possible / possibility (see 78. Infinitive versus Preposition after Nouns).

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SPELLINGS OF ADJECTIVE-DERIVED NOUNS

A noun can be considered to have been made from an adjective if it contains a recognizable adjective spelling to which either no ending or a noun ending has been added, with or without a spelling modification. For example, the noun happiness is obviously the adjective happy combined with the noun ending -ness.

English has quite a variety of endings that can be added to an adjective to make a noun. However, there are plenty of adjectives that none of them can be added to. For example, healthy and massive become nouns not by adding a noun ending, but rather by removing an adjective one (health, mass). They are, in fact, adjectives made from nouns – a category briefly considered at the end of this post. Adjectives starting with un- often need to drop or change un-. For example, undoubted becomes no doubt, and unable becomes inability.

Here is a list of endings that can be considered to be making a noun from an adjective:

1. -ANCE

abundance, brilliance, defiance, distance, dominance, elegance, extravagance, ignorance, importance, observance, radiance, relevance, reliance, reluctance, repugnance, resistance

Adjectives that create nouns of this kind tend themselves to end with -ant – an ending from which some -cy nouns are also made.

Note that –ance does not always combine with an adjective: it is also a common way of making a verb into a noun (e.g. admit – admittance). Most -ance nouns are derived from only an adjective or only a verb, but a few (underlined above) can be linked with either.
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2. -ATION and -TION

abbreviation, corruption, dejection, desperation, determination, frustration, inclination, intention, relaxation, satisfaction, separation, variation

Like -ance, this ending can create nouns from verbs as well as from adjectives. Indeed, it does so much more commonly. The above nouns all express a state. Most of the adjectives end in -ed, exceptions being desperation (from desperate), corruption (corrupt) and intention (intent). Separation links with both separate and separated (= semi-divorced).
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3. -CY

accuracy, adequacy, buoyancy, constancy, currency, decency, delicacy, efficacy, frequency, hesitancy, immediacy, intricacy, (il)legitimacy, (il)literacy, militancy, numeracy, profligacy, solvency, sufficiency, transparency, vacancy

Adjectives that become nouns with this ending tend to be spelt with “-ate” or “-t(e)”.
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4. -ENCE

absence, ambivalence, convenience, dependence, diligence, effervescence, emergence, eminence, equivalence, evidence, expedience, indulgence, insolence, obedience, permanence, persistence, prescience, presence, prominence, prudence, residence, reticence, violence

As with -ance, underlining here shows the possibility of derivation from either a verb or an adjective. In the latter case, the adjective usually ends in -ent. However, not all -ent adjectives make -ence nouns: some, like frequent, make -cy nouns, and content needs -ment. For more on content, see 254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10, #1. For more on emergence, see 157. Tricky Word Contrasts 5, #3.
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5. -ILITY

acceptability, adaptability, capability, excitability, intelligibility, likeability, nobility, possibility, probability, reliability, remarkability, stability, suitability, susceptibility, viability, visibility

Most of these nouns are derived from adjectives ending in -able or -ible (= “able”). The underlined ones have a related verb with passive meaning: likeability, for example, means “ability to be liked” (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs).
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6. -ISM

atheism, capitalism, defeatism, environmentalism, fatalism, pacifism, radicalism, realism, socialism, vegetarianism

In most cases, this ideology-naming -ism ending corresponds to the adjective ending -ist – only vegetarianism and radicalism above do not. All of the corresponding adjective spellings are additionally usable as people nouns.
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7. -ITY

activity, actuality, ambiguity, clarity, curiosity, density, duality, enormity, (in)equality, eventuality, extremity, factuality, familiarity, formality, generosity, (in)humanity, immunity, individuality, inferiority, laxity, legality, majority, masculinity, mutuality, necessity, (ab)normality, obscurity, oddity, personality, plurality, potentiality, (im)practicality, rapidity, (ir)rationality, (un)reality, (ir)regularity, rigidity, (in)security, severity, (dis)similarity, stupidity, superiority, universality

Some of these, it will be seen, modify the spelling of the adjective (e.g. clear, dense, curious, enormous, generous, immune, necessary, secure, severe, unequal). A common adjective type that becomes a noun with -ity ends in -al. For more on security, see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #1.
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8. -MENT

amazement, amusement, bafflement, contentment, disappointment, embarrassment, employment, enlightenment, entitlement, excitement, involvement, puzzlement

All of these examples are derived from -ed adjectives, and hence ultimately from verbs (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending). Like the adjectives, they convey the passive meaning of the verb and refer to a resultant state rather than an action. For example, amazement means “the state of being amazed”.

In most cases, the same noun can also express an action (e.g. “the act of amazing”), but must then be considered a verb-derived “action” noun rather than a noun derived from an adjective. The -ment ending is also found on many nouns that are solely derived from a verb (see 249. Action Noun Endings), so that it is easily thought of as more typically combining with verbs than with adjectives.
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9. -NESS

calmness, childishness, closeness, considerateness, decisiveness, enormousness, extensiveness, fullness, goodness, happiness, holiness, hopelessness, kindness, nastiness, nervousness, peevishness, pointedness, purposefulness, quickness, redness, responsiveness, restiveness, separateness, slowness, tastiness, tightness, tiredness, thankfulness, tirelessness, wholeness, willingness

This is perhaps the largest of all the categories. Many adjectives that become nouns with it have no adjective ending of their own. There are, however, some adjective endings that seem especially combinable with -ness, notably -y (happiness), -ish (peevishness), -ive (restiveness), -ful (thankfulness) and -less (hopelessness). For extensive lists of -ful and -less adjectives, see 106. Word-Like Suffixes.
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10. -SION

confusion, diffusion, division, precision

Diffusion and precision come from the -se adjectives diffuse (see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #4) and precise. The others come from -ed adjectives.

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11. -TH

breadth, depth, length, strength, truth, width.
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12. -TY

anxiety, certainty, difficulty, ferocity, loyalty, naivety, royalty, safety
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13. NO ENDING

alternative, double, elite, equivalent, future, human, hurt, level, north, opposite, past, potential, present, principal, specific, square, subordinate, suspect, upset, welcome

Nouns can be spelt the same as an adjective just as many are spelt the same as a verb. For example alternative, used as an adjective in alternative possibilities, is a noun in the obvious alternative (see 266. Indicating Alternatives).
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14. ODDITIES

falsehood, freedom, height, likelihood, marriage, pleasure, wisdom

Among these, falsehood, likelihood, freedom and wisdom are notable because the -hood and -dom endings are more typically added to nouns (e.g. childhood, parenthood, knighthood, kingdom). Marriage and pleasure correspond to the stative -ed adjectives married and pleased.

The above lists show that some adjectives have two related nouns with different meanings. For example, observant is related to observance (= duty fulfilment) or observation (= perception), and worthy is related to worth (= value) or worthiness (= suitability). Other pairs are:

complete – completeness / completion
enormous – enormousness / enormity (see 276. Tricky Word Contrasts 11, #6)
equivalent – equivalent / equivalence
human(e) – human / humanity
intricate – intricacy / intricateness
potential – potential / potentiality
selective – selection / selectiveness (see also attentive, suggestive)
separate – separateness / separation
special – specialness / speciality
tolerant – tolerance /toleration

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SPELLINGS OF NOUN-DERIVED ADJECTIVES

The following list and examples are offered for reference only. In concentrating on endings that can be added to a noun, they do not necessarily include every possible adjective ending. Moreover, most in the list are also found on adjectives not derived from a noun (e.g. -ic on frantic, -ly on early).

ABLE / -IBLE

Typically added to verbs, but some nouns too, e.g. contemptible, impressionable, knowledgeable

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-(I)AL

artificial, autumnal, behavio(u)ral, central, critical, doctrinal, essential, exceptional, facial, factual, fictional, industrial, informational, judgmental, logical, marginal, minimal, monumental, mystical, original, political, positional, presidential, professional, recreational, regional, residential, spacial, tactical

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-ARY

documentary, dietary, fragmentary, legendary, momentary, monetary, visionary

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-ATE (pronounced /ət/)

affectionate, extortionate, passionate

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-FUL

See 106. Word-Like Suffixes.

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-IC

cosmic, economic, emphatic, fantastic, formulaic, gigantic, graphic, historic, ironic, magnetic, manic, microscopic, panoramic, periodic, photographic, poetic, politic, scenic, strategic, synthetic, talismanic (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary)

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-ICAL

biological (and other adjectives made from an -ology noun), conical, cylindrical, economical, farcical, historical, hypothetical, mathematical, mythical, numerical, practical, spherical, theatrical, typical

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-ISH

childish, fiendish, hellish, impish, mannish

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-IVE

Typically added to verbs (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb, #2), but some nouns too, e.g. destructive, effective, festive, instinctive, massive, purposive, qualitative, quantitative, repetitive, responsive, successive

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-LESS

See 106. Word-Like Suffixes

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-LIKE

Usable with most nouns to indicate a similarity, e.g. child-like, spring-like (see 149. Saying how Things are Similar)

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-LY

daily, earthly, friendly, heavenly, homely, hourly, leisurely, manly, timely, womanly, worldly

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-OUS

dangerous, disastrous, frivolous, furious, glorious, harmonious, humorous, joyous, judicious, momentous, mountainous, numerous, poisonous, pompous, porous, rebellious, repetitious, righteous, scandalous, suspicious, victorious, wondrous

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-SOME

awesome, fearsome, handsome, irksome, lonesome, thanksome, troublesome

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-Y

angry, dirty, easy, fiddly, fiery, grainy, gritty, hasty, hilly, hungry, lengthy, meaty, messy, needy, noisy, predatory, rainy, risky, showy, smiley, speedy, squeaky, touchy, tricky, watery, wealthy, wintry, woody, worthy