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common noun
noun
: a noun that may occur with limiting modifiers (such as a or an, some, every, and my) and that designates any one of a class of beings or things
Examples of common noun in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Jacob believed that the capitalization of common nouns was an inorganic import and did away with it, a choice that inspired parodies in the German press.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
But perhaps even worse is the alternate fashion of just using common nouns as names, for example, Rust, Ruby, and Scheme.
—Stephen Cass, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Sep. 2023
Surprisingly, the team’s results suggest that at least 10 to 30 quantifiably different concept variants exist for even common nouns such as penguin.
—Simon Makin, Scientific American, 25 Apr. 2023
The word perpetua became a common noun for house helpers of priests after Manzoni used it as the name of a house helper in his novel.
—The New Yorker, 31 Oct. 2022
His proper name would become a common noun, a contemptible exclamation and novel profanity.
—Jack Hitt, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
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Word History
First Known Use
1561, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to common noun
Dictionary Entries Near common noun
Cite this Entry
“Common noun.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/common%20noun. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024.
Kids Definition
common noun
noun
: a noun (as chair or fear) that names a class of persons or things or any individual of a class
More from Merriam-Webster on common noun
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for common noun
Nglish: Translation of common noun for Spanish Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about common noun
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