I’ve been getting into that oddity that is collective nouns recently, and thought I’d share this summary with you.
Collective Nouns
Nouns form the names of people, places, animals and things. Collective nouns are a special class of nouns that form the names of groups of people, animals and things. The following are examples of collective nouns.
Collective Nouns for People
The following list contains collective nouns for groups of people. Many collective nouns for people are based on professions, family, nationality and gender.
Acrobats – A troupe of acrobats
Actors – A cast of actors
Athletes – A team of athletes
Comedians – A gaggle of comedians
Hedonists – A debauchery of hedonists
People – A crowd of people
Thieves – a gang of thieves
Experts – a panel of experts
Judges – a panel of judges
Directors – a board of directors
Idiots – a bunch of idiots
Collective Nouns for Animals
Collective nouns for animals in the English language date back hundreds of years. The list bellow contains some modern collective nouns used today and also some of the older terms that are not often used.
Bats – a colony of bats
Bees – a hive of bees
Birds – a flock of birds
Cattle – a herd of cattle
Crows – a murder of crows
Dogs – a pack of dogs
Dolphins – a school of dolphins
Elephants – a herd of elephants
Fish – a shoal of fish
Geese – a gaggle of geese
Gorillas – a band of gorillas
Insects – a swarm of insects
Lions – a pride of lions
Monkeys – a troop of monkeys
Owls – a parliament of owls
Rhinoceroses – a crash of rhinoceroses
Sheep – a flock of sheep
Wolves – a pack of wolves
Collective Nouns for Things
The following is a list of collective nouns for groups of things.
Bananas – a bunch of bananas
Cars – a fleet of cars
Cards – a deck of cards
Drinks – a round of drinks
Ghosts – a fright of ghosts
Mountains – a range of mountains
Notes – a wad of notes
Riches – an embarrassment of riches
Ships – a flotilla of ships
Trees – a forest of trees
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