collective noun
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English[edit]
Noun[edit]
collective noun (plural collective nouns)
- (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, page 23:
- A hundred, a thousand, few, many, are to be considered as collective nouns, and distinguished as such, by the singular article.
- 2008, Ron Cowan, The Teacher's Grammar of English with Answers[1]:
- British English tends more than American English to have plural agreement with collective nouns.
Synonyms[edit]
Hyponyms[edit]
- term of venery (animals)
Translations[edit]
noun referring to a group of similar things
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- “collective noun”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.