Usage Note: In American usage, a collective noun takes a singular verb when it refers to the. Collective nouns differ from singular nouns because singular. A noun that denotes a collection of individuals regarded as a unit. ĭon't trust this list many of these entries are fanciful and never found outside of word lists.Ī cast, company, condescension, cry, queue, stage, troupe of actorsĪ flight, squadron (aeroplanes), wing of aircraftĪ choir, chorus, flight, host, or pinhead of angelsĪn army, bike, colony, nest, soviet, swarm of antsĪ battery, park, rumble, troop of artilleryĪ congress, flange, rumpus, tribe, troop, troupe of baboonsĪ colony of bacteria (a culture if laboratory-grown)Ī maul, pack, sloth, or sleuth of bearsĪ bike, bike cast, byke, cast (secondary swarm), cluster, colony, commonwealth, erst, flight, drift, game, grist, hive, hum, rabble, stand, or swarm of beesĪ congregation, dissimulation (small birds), fleet, flight, flock, parcel, pod, roost, volary / volery (in an aviary) of birdsĪ colony of birds (roosting in large numbers)Ī cloud, flock, grind, merl of blackbirdsĪ drift (herded), herd, singular, singularity, sounder of boarsĪ chain of bobolinks (polygamous bird, Ricebird)Ī blush, boister, leer, passel or rascal of boysĪ flight, flutter, kaleidoscope, rabble, rainbow, school fish, swarm, or wing of butterfliesĪ caravan, flock, herd, scorn, train of camelsĪ tok of capercaillies (i.e. A collective noun is defined as a noun that identifies a group of people, animals, or things. Many of these are fanciful or humorous terms which have never had any real currency, but have been taken up by various antiquarian writers. This use of murder goes back to the 1400s. Unlike many collective nouns, this sense of murder even has enough evidence in print to merit entry into our dictionaries. In the lists which follow, terms marked with a + belong to the 15th-century list of " proper terms" contained in the Book of St Albans. One of our best-known (and easily meme-able) collective nouns is a murder of crows. Here is a list of collective nouns by subject.Ī collective noun is a special kind of noun that refers to a collection of objects-often animals-such as a flock of birds, or a pride of lions. Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup ( +) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with. ![]() A user suggests that this English appendix be cleaned up, giving the reason: “citations need cleanup”.
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