common noun

American  

noun

Grammar.

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.

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common noun British  

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

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Etymology

Origin of common noun

First recorded in 1860–65

Compare meaning

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

• common noun vs. proper noun

Example Sentences

Tupperware had so dominated the business of storing leftover food for so long that the company name more or less became a common noun, used to describe even food storage containers made by other companies.

From Slate • Sep. 23, 2024

It’s used as a common noun and can be pluralized or singular, for instance: “you should set a passkey for your banking app.”

From The Verge • Aug. 5, 2022

Not to mention that the common noun “objection” fails to qualify as a “name, phrase, title, etc.”

From Washington Post • Feb. 3, 2022

Chaser also mapped the common noun "toy" onto these same objects.

From US News • Jan. 10, 2011

Indeed, there were several eminent linguists of the opinion that this was how the common noun had originated.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer