Collective Nouns
When you use a collective noun, you are using another word for "group". Collective nouns can be descriptive, evocative, and just fun as you will see in the partial listing below. Many nouns which have a collective noun actually have several. Many animal groups, for instance, that can be called herds, pods, packs, or flocks also have other names as well. Here are some of the more interesting ones.
- A balance of accountants
- A battery of barracudas
- A congregation of alligators
- A shrewdness of apes
- A troop of baboons
- A lodge of beavers
- A keg of bowlers
- A clash of bucks
- A flutter of butterflies
- A wake of buzzards
- An army of caterpillars
- A coalition of cheetahs
- A chattering of chickens
- A quiver of cobras
- An intrusion of cockroaches
- A gulp of cormorants
- A curse of creditors
- A bask of crocodiles
- A murder of crows
- A wince of dentists
- A rash of dermatologists
- A waddling of ducks
- A swarm of eels
- A memory of elephants
- A busyness of ferrets
- A school of fish
- A flamboyance of flamingos
- A skulk of foxes
- A gaggle of geese
- A tower of giraffes
- An implausibility of gnus
- A charm of goldfinches
- A happy of golden retrievers
- A glint of goldfish
- A whoop of gorillas
- A bloat of hippopotami
- A stable of horses
- A cackle of hyenas
- A plague of insects
- A scold of jays
- A smack of jellyfish
- A mob of kangaroos
- A kindle of kittens
- An exaltation of larks
- A leap of leopards
- A shush of librarians
- A pride of lions
- A mischief of mice
- A barrel of monkeys
- A scourge of mosquitoes
- A watch of nightingales
- A pandemonium of parrots
- A covey of partridges
- A romp of otters
- A parliament of owls
- An ostentation of peacocks
- A rhumba of rattlesnakes
- A crash of rhinoceroses
- A clamour of rooks
- A knot of snakes
- A scurry of squirrels
- A clattering of starlings
- A whiting of swans
- An ambush of tigers
- A rafter of turkeys
- A plump of wildfowl
- A dazzle of zebras
