Common Noun — Definition and Examples

Daniel Bal
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Daniel Bal
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Courtney Adamo
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Paul Mazzola

What is a common noun?

A common noun refers to a general, non-specific person, place, thing, or idea. Since common nouns do not name anything specific, these words are not capitalized.

What are common nouns?
What are common nouns?

There are five types of common nouns in the English language: countable, uncountable, collective, concrete, and abstract.

Types of common nouns
Type of Common Noun Definition Examples
Countable Noun Refers to nouns that can be easily counted dogs, chairs, people
Uncountable Noun Nouns that cannot be divided into separate elements rain, oil, sugar
Collective Noun References a group of individuals family, team, government
Concrete Noun Nouns that can be recognized using one of the five senses basketball, television, apple
Abstract Noun Denotes an idea, quality, or state of being love, charity, freedom

Common vs. proper nouns

While a proper noun functions similarly to a common noun, the main difference depends on the person, place, or thing referenced. Proper nouns name specific things, individual people, or places, whereas common nouns are generic or broad. Due to the specificity of the noun, proper ones start with a capital letter, whereas common ones are lowercase.

Common vs. proper nouns
Type of Noun Common Proper
Person man Jim
Place state New York
Thing jeans Levi's

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Common noun examples

The following include some of the most-used examples of common nouns:

Examples of common nouns
People Places Things Ideas
child city book anger
family country car calm
father home day courage
friend house government curiosity
kid library hand friendship
man office life happiness
mother room money loyalty
people school night thought
student state question trust
woman world water wisdom

Common noun sentences

The following example sentences contain common nouns:

People

  • The teacher wanted to stop lecturing for the day.

  • Samantha’s mother and father were proud of her success.

  • Carl loved spending time with his family during the holidays.

Common noun example
Common noun example

Places

  • Henry enjoyed being able to relax at home.

  • During the winter, Stephanie always considers moving to a warmer state.

  • Once the last bell rang, Christy ran straight to the library.

Things

  • After working all weekend, Tim was excited to see his paycheck.

  • The social studies teacher told the class that voting was their civic duty.

  • After Sara passed her driving test, she immediately wanted a new car.

Ideas

  • Will wanted to know the difference between intelligence and wisdom.

  • The couple built a trusting relationship after spending over five years together.

  • Tiffany was amazed by the courage of the soldiers during battle.

Common noun example
Common noun example