Collective nouns are words that denote a group of animals, birds, persons or things. Such words are often called group terms or nouns of assembly. English has a bewildering variety of strange-looking collective nouns. Familiarity with such collective nouns in English can surely make our speech and writing sound better and more elegant.
List of Collective Nouns & Group Words in English
The following is an elaborate list of collective nouns and group words in English. Search the name of an animal, bird, or object to find the corresponding collective noun.
| Collective Noun | Denoting Group |
|---|---|
| A bale | of cotton, wool |
| A band | of musicians, robbers |
| A batch | of loaves (baked together) |
| A battalion | of soldiers |
| A battery | of guns |
| A beam | of rays |
| A bench | of judges |
| A bevy | of girls, ladies, swans |
| A bloat | of hippopotami |
| A block | of flats |
| A board | of directors, trustees, examiners |
| A bouquet | of flowers |
| A brood | of chickens (hatched at the same time) |
| A budget | of letters, news |
| A bunch | of flowers, grapes, keys, plantains |
| A bundle | of clothes, hay, sticks |
| A caravan | of merchants, pilgrims, travellers |
| A cargo | of goods |
| A carillon | of bells |
| A catch | of fishes (taken in a net) |
| A century | of inventions, runs, sonnets, years |
| A chain | of events, mountains |
| A choir | of angels, singers |
| A class | of persons, students |
| A clique | of schemers |
| A cloud | of locusts |
| A clump | of trees |
| A cluster | of grapes, islands, nuts, stars, rings |
| A clutch | of eggs |
| A code | of laws |
| A collection | of coins, curiosities, relics, stamps |
| A colony | of people, ants, badgers, beavers, penguins, rabbits, rats, seals, frogs, gulls, vultures |
| A commonwealth | of nations |
| A company | of actors, merchants, shareholders, soldiers |
| A concourse | of people |
| A congress | of delegates, representatives |
| A consignment | of goods |
| A constellation | of stars |
| A corps | of volunteers |
| A council | of advisers |
| A course | of events, lectures |
| A covey | of partridges (flying together) |
| A crew | of sailors |
| A crowd | of people (in the street) |
| A curriculum | of studies |
| A drift | of hogs |
| A drove | of cattle (when driven) |
| A dynasty | of kings, rulers |
| A faggot | of sticks, twigs |
| A fall | of leaves, rain, snow |
| A family | of sardines |
| A fell | of hair |
| A fleet | of cars, ships |
| A flight | of aircrafts, arrows, bees, birds, insects, locusts, stairs, steps |
| A flock | of chickens, geese, sheep, birds |
| A flotilla | of boats, ships |
| A forest | of trees |
| A gaggle | of geese |
| A galaxy | of beauties, stars |
| A gallery | of paintings, pictures |
| A gang | of convicts, prisoners, robbers, thieves, workmen |
| A garland | of flowers |
| A genus | of animals, plants |
| A group | of figures (in a picture), islands, people |
| A grove | of trees |
| A haul | of fishes (taken in a net) |
| A heap | of ruins, sand, stones |
| A herd | of cattle, deer, swine, antelope, boar, buffalo, chamois, chinchillas, donkeys, elephants, elk, giraffes, gnus, goats, hippopotami, horses, kangaroos, llamas, moose, oxen, pigs, seals, swans, walruses, whales, yaks, zebras(when pasturing or driven together) |
| A hive | of bees |
| A hoard | of gold, jewels |
| A horde | of barbarians, savages |
| A host | of angels |
| A league | of powers, states |
| A leash | of hares, hounds |
| A legion | of soldiers |
| A library | of books |
| A litter | of puppies, kittens, piglings (brought forth at one birth) |
| A lock | of hair |
| A mass | of clouds, ruins |
| A menagerie | of wild animals |
| A mob | of people (in a riot) |
| A multitude | of people |
| A murder | of crows |
| A muster | of peacocks, troops |
| An album | of photos, paintings, snap-shots, stamps |
| An ambush | of tigers |
| An anthology | of poems |
| An army | of soldiers, ants |
| An assembly | of members, people gathered together for some common purpose |
| A nest | of ants |
| An orchestra | of musicians |
| A nosegay | of flowers |
| An outfit | of clothes |
| A pack | of asses, hounds, playing-cards, wolves |
| A panel | of judges, jury-men |
| A parade | of soldiers |
| A party | of musicians, people, friends |
| A patrol | of scouts, soldiers |
| A pencil | of rays |
| A pile | of arms, bricks, stones, wood |
| A posse | of constables, police-men (called to quell a riot) |
| A posy | of flowers |
| A poultry | of fowls, ducks etc. |
| A queue | of people, voters |
| A quiver | of arrows |
| A rabble | of people (in a rowdy scene) |
| A range | ofhills, mountains |
| A regiment | of soldiers |
| A rope | of pearls |
| A row | of athletes, chairs, trees |
| A school | of porpoises, whales |
| A series | of events |
| A set | of tools |
| A sheaf | of arrows, corn-stalks, paper |
| A shoal | of fishes |
| A shock | of hair |
| A shower | of arrows, bullets, rain, stones |
| A sleuth | of bears |
| A society | people gathered together for some common purpose |
| A squad | of soldiers |
| A squadron | of ships, soldiers |
| A stack | of arms, corn, hay, wood (piled together) |
| A staff | of officials, servants, teachers |
| A stock | of goods |
| A string | of camels |
| A suit | of clothes |
| A suite | of apartments, furniture, rooms |
| A swarm | of ants, bees, flies, locusts |
| A syndicate | of businessmen, councillors |
| A team | of horses, players, oxen (harnessed together) |
| A throng | of people |
| A train | of carriages, followers, waggons |
| A tribe | of aborigines, people |
| A troop | of lions, monkeys, scouts, soldiers |
| A troupe | of actors, artistes, dancers |
| A tuft | of grass, hair |
| Audience | people at a lecture or concert |
| A volley | of shots, bullets |
| A wreath | of flowers |
| Congregation | people in a church, mosque or temple |
| Spectators | people at a match, tournament, etc. |