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Definition 2024


collective_noun

collective noun

English

Noun

collective noun (plural collective nouns)

  1. (grammar) A noun which, though singular, refers to a group of things or animals. Examples: a school of fish, a pride of lions.
    • 1775, John Ash, The New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language, volume 1, London: Edward and Charles Dilly in the Poultry; and R. Baldwin in Pater-Noster Row, OCLC 4294888, page 23:
      A hundred, a thousand, few, many, are to be considered as collective nouns, and distinguished as such, by the singular article.

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See also

  • mass noun
  • Appendix:English collective nouns