An Affinity of Collective Nouns

• a flush of plumbers
• a Ponzi of con artists
• a satchel of bellhops
• a callipygian of Kardashians
• a swish of interior decorators
• a stupor of anesthesiologists
• a crack of eggs
• a crack of yeggs
• a scam of grifters
• a fenestra of windows
• a frock of priests
• a defrock of ex-priests
• a ton of fat guys
• the cliché of sportswriters
• an itch of dermatologists
• an obfuscation of spokespersons
• a yuck of comics
• a pontification of professors
• a serif of calligraphers
• a cartouche of Egyptologists
• a column of architects
• a conflagration of arsonists
• an iridescence of glass blowers
• a groop of illiterates
• a jigger of bartenders
• a floe of glaciologists
• an illusion of make-up artists
• a prance of ballerinas
• a grief of mourners
• a tact of diplomats
• an intrigue of spies
• a chucker of polo ponies
• a stink of skunks
• a squeal of tattletales
• a chutzpah of Israelis
• a Lolita of ingenues
• a grace of gymnasts
• a bulk of weightlifters
• a scold of disciplinarians
• a frippery of dandies
• an om of meditators
• a cord of sawyers
• a gimp of limpers
• a bravado of braggarts
• a bribe of Chicago aldermen
• a frenzy of sports fans
• a poke of proctologists
• a galaxy of astronomers
• an anticipation of obstetricians
• a bloviation of politicians
• a Schumer of publicity hounds
• a reduction of dieters
• an obliteration of bombers
• a ledger of accountants
• a cohort of demographers
• a market of economists
• an amalgamation of unionists
• a glitch of errors
• a chapter of novelists
• a clutch of purses
• a grunt of laborers
• a conceit of egotists
• a manipulation of fluffers
• a vision of ophthalmologists
• a squint of optometrists
• a conscript of draftees
• a contour of surveyors

In the simplest case, a single word may be a collective noun. It can refer to people (crowd, team, mob), to animals (herd, bevy, pack), or to things (clump, bunch, batch). These are usually general in nature. You can have a team of cyclists or a team of scientists or a team of oxen. A more elaborate construction refers uniquely to a group of something and takes the form:

a [collective term] of [noun]

A common example: a coven of witches. The use of coven virtually always refers to witches and a group of witches is correctly referred to as a coven.

There are many collective nouns in everyday use. No one bats an eyelash at the mention of a school of fish, a flock of geese or a pack of wolves. The pope is elected by a College of Cardinals. In the common parlance for collections of things, one would include a range of mountains, a flotilla of ships or a deck of cards.

There are less-common collective nouns which are unlikely to pop up in quotidian speech, but which nevertheless feel comfortable to the ear when used. Nothing unusual about a host of angels or a string of pearls.

Although rarely used in conversation, most people know that larks do not come together as a flock or a gaggle or a swarm but as an exaltation. In fact, an exaltation of larks is probably the common exemplar used to explain the concept of the collective noun.

There are many lists of collective nouns on the web and they include many established monikers which are certainly not in common usage. They may be established in the sense that they make the list, but some go back to fifteenth-century hunting nomenclature and are rather obscure a half-millennium later. One would have to participate in many conversations before someone referred to superfluity of nuns or an escargatoire of snails.

A good collective noun can convey the core nature of the collective and so expresses it essence. Although some collectives are humorous; most are not. While there are hundreds of collective nouns, one might wonder why there are not thousands. At its best, a collective noun is useful, expressive and fun. With an eye toward expanding the concept, herein are more than a hundred suggestions for new collective nouns.

A group of students or a bunch of bananas are collectives which add no more meaning than the simple plural. Students or bananas would serve just as well. I tried to do better. You can too. Make up your own collective nouns. Be creative. And share the fun with all of us by posting your contribution in the comments block below.

• a guffaw of comedians
• a Babel of linguists
• a Gatsby of parvenues
• a strum of buskers
• a manana of procrastinators
• an orbit of astronauts
• an outfit of haberdashers
• a snip of mohels
• a flip of acrobats
• a timber of lumberjacks
• a fling of adulterers
• a prospect of actuaries
• a manana of procrastinators
• a pretense of sophisticates
• a fantasy of unicorns
• an ennui of depressives
• a kerfuffle of demonstrators
• a peccadillo of fuss budgets
• an ecstasy of orgasms
• a dependency of parasites
• a cudgel of hooligans
• a rapier of wits
• a gaggle of giggles
• a giggle of tickers
• a tattle of whistle blowers
• a banner of patriots
• a hype of publicists
• a Zamboni of hockey players
• a hallelujah of evangelists
• a concordance of sycophants
• a dispatch of foreign correspondents
• a gam of Rockettes
• a scurry of mice
• an occlusion of dentists
• a pillage of pirates
• a pile of hemorrhoids
• a hoard of misers
• a gape of yawns
• a yawn of bores
• a gouge of woodturners
• a stent of cardiologists
• a lethargy of slackers
• a Mobius of topologists
• a cornucopia of optimists
• a hegemon of emperors
• a squirm of liars
• a maelstrom of weathermen
• a schism of rivals
• a wisp of aromas
• a tweet of canaries
• a chord of musicians
• a hood of Klansmen
• a cheat of cardsharps
• a Shankar of sitarists
• a spiel of hucksters
• an illumination of gospels
• a verbatim of stenographers
• a cognate of translators
• a balk of baseball pitchers
• a crimp of electricians
• a scrod of Bostonians
• a triage of ER docs
• a folio of bookbinders
• a gallows of hangmen
• a malignancy of neo-Nazis
• a Trump of narcissists
• an affinity of collective nouns