common noun

See synonyms for common noun on Thesaurus.com
nounGrammar.
  1. a noun that may be preceded by an article or other limiting modifier and that denotes any or all of a class of entities and not an individual, as man, city, horse, music.

Compare Meanings

Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.

Origin of common noun

1
First recorded in 1860–65
  • Also called common name .

Words Nearby common noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use common noun in a sentence

  • The, when placed before the pluralized abstract noun, marks it as half abstract or a common noun.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell

British Dictionary definitions for common noun

common noun

noun
  1. grammar a noun that refers to each member of a whole class sharing the features connoted by the noun, as for example planet, orange, and drum: Compare proper noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012