Meanings
plural collective nouns
- grammarA noun which, though singular, refers to a group of things or animals.
British English tends more than American English to have plural agreement with collective nouns.
2008, Ron Cowan, The Teacher's Grammar of English with Answers1 more example
A hundred, a thousand, few, many, are to be considered as collective nouns, and distinguished as such, by the singular article.
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 23Synonyms: collective, of assemblage, of multitude
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA noun which, though singular, refers to a group of things or animals.
Translations
Afrikaans versamelnaam, kollektief
- versamelnaamnoun referring to a group of similar things
- kollektiefnoun referring to a group of similar things
- collectivumnoun referring to a group of similar things
Bulgarian събира́телно съществи́телно
- събира́телно съществи́телно (săbirátelno săštestvítelno)noun referring to a group of similar things
Chinese Mandarin 集合名詞 /集合名词
- 集合名詞 /集合名词 (jíhé míngcí)noun referring to a group of similar things
Dutch verzamelnaam, collectivum
- verzamelnaamnoun referring to a group of similar things
- collectivumnoun referring to a group of similar things
Finnish kollektiivisubstantiivi
- kollektiivisubstantiivinoun referring to a group of similar things
French nom collectif
- nom collectifnoun referring to a group of similar things
German Sammelname, Kollektivum
- Sammelnamenoun referring to a group of similar things
- Kollektivumnoun referring to a group of similar things
Hungarian gyűjtőnév, gyűjtőfőnév
- gyűjtőnévnoun referring to a group of similar things
- gyűjtőfőnévnoun referring to a group of similar things
Icelandic safnheiti
- safnheitinoun referring to a group of similar things
Italian nome collettivo
- nome collettivonoun referring to a group of similar things
Japanese 集合名詞
- 集合名詞 (shūgōmeisi)noun referring to a group of similar things
Korean 집합명사
- 집합명사 (jiphammyeongsa)noun referring to a group of similar things
Polish rzeczownik zbiorowy
- rzeczownik zbiorowynoun referring to a group of similar things
Portuguese substantivo coletivo
- substantivo coletivonoun referring to a group of similar things
Romanian substantiv colectiv
- substantiv colectivnoun referring to a group of similar things
Russian собира́тельное существи́тельное
- собира́тельное существи́тельное (sobirátelʹnoje suščestvítelʹnoje)noun referring to a group of similar things
Scottish Gaelic ainmear trusaidh
- ainmear trusaidhnoun referring to a group of similar things
Spanish sustantivo colectivo, nombre colectivo
- sustantivo colectivonoun referring to a group of similar things
- nombre colectivonoun referring to a group of similar things
Swedish myckenhetsnamn, myckenhetsord
- myckenhetsnamnnoun referring to a group of similar things
- myckenhetsordnoun referring to a group of similar things
- samlingsnamnnoun referring to a group of similar things
- sammanfattningsnamnnoun referring to a group of similar things
- sammelbenämningnoun referring to a group of similar things
- sammelnamnnoun referring to a group of similar things
Tagalog pangngalang palansak
- pangngalang palansaknoun referring to a group of similar things
Thai สมุหนาม
- สมุหนาม (sà-mù-hà-naam)noun referring to a group of similar things
Welsh enw torfol
- enw torfolnoun referring to a group of similar things
Cite this entry
collective noun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/collective%20noun
“collective noun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/collective%20noun. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “collective noun,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/collective%20noun.
Source: collective noun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.