Nouns That Start With A

A noun is commonly defined as a person, place, thing, or idea. They’re often accompanied by articles: “a,” “an,” and “the.” One of the primary functions of a noun is to act as the subject of a sentence. For example, “The rose smells pretty.”

Nouns can also work as the object of a sentence. In this capacity, they’ll typically come after the verb in the sentence. For example, “He tossed the ball.” Nouns are also names, including people, cities, states, countries, buildings, books, and more.

Now for the fun part. Get ready to beef up your Scrabble skills and conquer all your Words With Friends competition.

With a few of these nouns in your back pocket, you can also step up your alliteration game. Maybe your next short story will include an ambitious aardvark named Andy. Or, you can get creative with a little assonance, or the repetition of vowel sounds. For example, “Art is ancient and dates far back in time.”

Without further ado, here are 50 nouns that start with A:

1. Aardvark - a large, burrowing, nocturnal South African mammal that feeds on ants and termites
2. Ability - a special talent or skill
3. Absence - a lack of something, or a situation where something or someone isn’t present
4. Abyss - a deep or bottomless hole, either literal or figurative
5. Acceptance - agreeing to receive something
6. Accommodation - something that fulfills a particular need, like a hotel room for a traveler
7. Acquaintance - someone you know casually but not as well as a friend
8. Address - the physical location of something
9. Admirer - someone who regards someone or something with amazement
10. Adolescence - the period of time between puberty and adulthood
11. Adventure - an exciting experience that usually involves risks
12. Aerial - a radio antenna, especially one suspended in the air
13. Affect - a feeling or emotion, especially when manifested through body language
14. Aftermath - the consequence of a situation, often one that’s destructive
15. Agility - mental or physical quickness and sharpness
16. Agreement - coming to a mutual decision or arrangement
17. Ailment - a bodily or mental disorder or illness
18. Aisle - a passageway between different sections
19. Alaskan - a person born or living in Alaska
20. Allure - the power to attract or entice
21. Alpaca - a South American animal related to the llama with long, silky wool
22. Altitude - the height above the Earth’s surface or sea level
23. Amateur - someone who is new to a particular skill or sport
24. Ambiance - the atmosphere or feeling of a place
25. Ambition - a strong urge to achieve something
26. Anchor - a weight dropped into water to stop the movement of a boat
27. Ancient - a very old person or someone who lived in times long past
28. Anecdote - a short, entertaining story
29. Anger - a strong feeling of displeasure
30. Antidote - something that works against an unwanted situation to make it better
31. Apathy - a lack of emotion or interest
32. Apricot - a small yellowish-orange fruit closely related to the peach
33. Aquarium - a container that holds marine plants and animals
34. Aqueduct - a channel that transports water across long distances
35. Argentina - a country in South America
36. Argument - a verbal exchange between people with opposing viewpoints
37. Assault - an act that causes verbal or physical injury
38. Athlete - a person either trained or with a natural ability to play sports
39. Attraction - the act of enticing someone or something
40. Audio - anything that relates to sound, in terms of transmitting or receiving
41. Authority - a person who’s an expert in his field
42. Automatic - something that moves or operates without conscious thought or control
43. Avalanche - a large quantity of something that comes suddenly, like snow or rocks
44. Average - typical or common
45. Award - something you receive for doing well
46. Awkwardness - the quality of being clumsy
47. Ax - a tool with a blade on the handle, used for cutting
48. Axis - a real or imaginary line on which something rotates
49. Aztec - a member of an Amerindian people of what is now Mexico
50. Azure - a light, purplish-blue color

Given their varied and important roles, there are over 10 different types of nouns. Nouns that are names are often proper nouns (e.g. James, Cleveland, Oklahoma, America, and the Pentagon). So, you might read a sentence like this: James moved to the city of Cleveland with his wife two years ago.

The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun. These refer to general, unspecified entities. In the sentence about James above, the words “city” and “wife” are common nouns. They’re neither capitalized nor specific, unlike the proper nouns “Cleveland” and “Amy.”

You’ve also got compound nouns (e.g., softball and toothpaste), collective nouns, possessive nouns, and pronouns (e.g., I, me, mine, she, her, he, him, our, and us). It’s common to see both nouns and pronouns in a single sentence: “Joe gave the book to her.”

Do you have any favorite nouns that start with A? Or, were you confusing the meaning of one of the 50 words above? We’re all guilty of that from time to time.

Let’s pluck a few of these A-list nouns and see what they look like in action. Click on the link in each sentence to see more example sentences containing that A-noun:

1. Her ability to make others feel special was astounding.

2. The beds in our new accommodations are cloud-soft.

3. Let’s go off on another adventure!

4. Perhaps we’ll befriend an Alaskan.

5. The ambiance in this coffee shop is so relaxing.

6. The antidote to loneliness is travel.

7. Would you like to go to Argentina with me?

8. Jack's attraction to Kate was palpable.

9. His new car is an automatic.

10. The Grecian skies were a brilliant azure yesterday.

The more we read, the more we naturally pick up new vocabulary words. And, if you enjoy acting as the author instead of the reader, an extensive vocabulary list will help you craft catchy sentences. Let’s keep things moving. Since E is the most common letter in the alphabet, it’ll be helpful to have a nice long list of nouns that start with "e."

Go beyond nouns with an extensive list of other words that begin with the first letter of the alphabet. Explore words that start with "a" on WordFinder where you can quickly and easily save your own customized word lists. The simple on-screen search field allows you to curate your own customized collection of words. You can review words with a specific number of letters as well as ones that start with, end with or include certain letters. You'll be on your way to increasing your vocabulary in no time at all.