| a 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. |
| mass noun n. A noun, such as sand, oil, or honesty, that denotes a substance or concept indivisible into countable units and is preceded in English indefinite constructions by modifiers such as some or much rather than a or one. |