Here on this page, we discuss collective nouns and this page would help you to know about common collective nouns which is a type of noun.
Collective nouns are used to describe the groups of people, animals or things.
The collective noun is known as a subset of count nouns. Because they refer to a group of countable nouns as a single collective unit.
Collective nouns can also have a plural form.
Example:
‘Family’ is a collective noun. ‘Families’ is the plural form of family.
Example: Crowd of people, the herd of cows, a bunch of grapes, the flock of birds, department of technology, the string of pearls, the firm of lawyers, a cup of tea, the shoal of fish.
Let’s look at the common collective noun used to denote things, places, people, and animals.
Common collective nouns for things and places
- Agenda of tasks
- Alliance of countries
- Anthology of poem
- Armada of ships
- Array of magazines
- Atlas of maps
- Babel of words
- Bale of cotton
- Band of brothers
- Bank of circuits
- Bank of monitors
- Batch of DVDs
- Batch of bread
- Battery of guns
- Block of flats
- Bucket of water
- Book of exercises
- Bowl of cereal
- Box of chocolate
- Box of cigars
- Bunch of flowers
- Board of directors
- Bundle of sticks
- Choir of singers
- Case of soda
- Cast of clowns
- Catalogue of goods
- Cellar of wine
- Chain of mountains/range of mountains
- Class of students
- Cluster of stars
- Clutch of eggs
- Committee of specialists/experts
- Company of dancers
- Confederation of states/union of states
- Crowd of people
- Cup of tea
- Department of technology
- Deck of cards
- Family of trees
- Fleet of ships
- Fleet of lorries
- Firm of lawyers
- Flight of stairs
- Galaxy of stars
- Gallery of pictures
- Gang of bandits
- Glossary of words
- Group of fans
- Group of islands / Chain of islands
- Heap of sand
- Jury of peers
- Library of books
- List of names
- Line of cars
- Museum of art
- Nest of rumours
- Network of computers
- Network of roads
- Packet of salt
- Pack of cards
- Pair of shoes
- Palette of colours
- Pile of garbage
- Rabble of remedies
- Ring of keys
- Stack of hay
- Series of events
- Set of tools
- Sheaf of arrows
- Shower of rain
- Society of people
- String of pearls
- Tub of water
- Vault of money
- Whirl of windmills
Words used to denote groups of people
- Association
- Band
- Body
- Bunch
- Class
- Cohort
- Company
- Crowd
- Gang
- Group
- Lot
- Mass
- Party
- Posse
- Set
- Society
- Squad
- Staff
- Team
- Tribe
Collective nouns for people
- A crew of sailors
- A flight of dancers
- A troupe of actors
- A board of directors
- A bevy of beauties
- A congregation of churchgoers
- A mob of rioters
- A unit of soldiers
- A conflagration of arsonists
- Conjunction of arsonists
- A coven of witches
- A den of thieves
- A glitter of generals
- A host of angels
- A phalanx of flutists
- A rage of maidens
- A quiz of teachers
- A slate of candidates
- A sprig of vegetarians
- A tabernacle of bankers
- A thought of barons
- A wheeze of joggers
- An attitude of teenagers
- An illusion of magicians
Collective nouns for animals
- A cackle of hyenas
- A shrewdness of apes
- A raft of otters
- A coterie of prairie dogs
- An ambush of tigers
- A rout of wolves
- A yoke of oxen
- A pride of lions
- Troop of chimpanzees
- A dazzle of zebras / A herd of zebras / A zeal of zebras
- A barrel of monkeys
- A memory of elephants
- A mob of kangaroos
- A wisdom of wombats
- A stubbornness of rhinoceroses
- A skulk of foxes
- A sleuth of bears
- A scurry of squirrels
- A tribe of goats
- A clutch of rabbits
- Destruction of cates (wild cats)
- A clowder of cats (domestic cats)
- A prickle of porcupines
- A gaze of raccoons
- A business of ferrets
- A battery of barracudas
- A run of salmon
- A gam of whales
- A shiver of sharks
- A fever of stingrays
- A family of sardines
- A hover of trout
- A bale of turtles
- A harem of seals
- A rhumba of rattlesnakes
- A walk of snails
- A bunch of worms
- A murder of crows
- A wake of vultures
- a descent of woodpeckers
- A muster of storks
- A pod of pelicans
- A skein of geese / A gaggle of geese
- A flock of ducks
- Flight of doves
- An exaltation of larks
- A mutation of thrush
- A parliament of owls
- A charm of hummingbirds
- A flamboyance of flamingos
- A siege of herons
- A flutter of butterflies / a kaleidoscope of butterflies
- A scold of jays
- A covey of quail
- A scourge of mosquitoes
- A brood of chickens
- A hive of bees