proper noun

American  

[prop-er noun] / ˈprɒp ər ˈnaʊn /

noun

1. Grammar. a noun that is used to denote a particular person, place, or thing, as Lincoln, Sarah, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Hall.

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proper noun British  

noun

1. the name of a person, place, or object, as for example Iceland, Patrick, or Uranus Compare common noun

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Grammar

Proper nouns are not normally preceded by an article or other limiting modifier, as any or some. Nor are they usually pluralized. But the language allows for exceptions. Proper nouns may occasionally have a definite article as part of the name, as in the case of some ships, organizations, and hotels, as The Titanic, The Humane Society, and The Plaza. An indefinite article is appropriate when you use a name as an exemplar: She looks like a young Elizabeth Taylor! And there is sometimes a reason for treating a name as if it were a generic: There are four Devons in my class. Proper nouns, usually capitalized in English, are arbitrary, in that a name can be given to someone or something without regard to any descriptive meaning the word or phrase may otherwise have.

Etymology

Origin of proper noun

First recorded in 1490–1500

Compare meaning

How does proper-noun compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• common noun vs. proper noun
• noun vs. proper noun
• proper noun vs. pronoun

Example Sentences

Everything began, cosmologists currently think, with a bang — the Big Bang; if it does not deserve to be a proper noun, what does?

From Washington Post • Jan. 28, 2023

Today, the Department of Defense remains an appropriately capitalized proper noun.

From Salon • Oct. 11, 2021

Ms. Norris immediately protested to the judges — Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution and revenge, was technically a proper noun and not an eligible word.

From New York Times • Jul. 11, 2021

Zoom is 2020’s most prevalent eponym: a word derived from a proper noun, in this case, the name of a video-conferencing company.

From The Guardian • Nov. 26, 2020

She moved through our classroom as coolly as if Khesanh were just a proper noun in a sentence that needed to be diagrammed.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt