proper noun

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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proper noun (plural proper nouns)

Examples

Mike, London, United Nations, Europe

  1. (grammar) A word or phrase that is a noun denoting a particular person, place, organization, ship, animal, event, or other individual entity.
    Synonyms: proper name, nomen proprium, noun substantive proper, proper substantive, substantive proper, selfname
    Antonyms: common noun, common name, appellative noun, nomen appellativum

Usage notes

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Main appendix: English proper nouns

In English, a proper noun is normally not preceded by an article or limiting modifier and is normally written with an initial capital letter. However, some proper nouns are preceded by articles (such as the Netherlands) and some are uncapitalized (kd lang), and many common (non-proper) nouns are also capitalized, like European. Some references erroneously conflate whether a noun is common or proper with whether it is capitalized or not, although these are not the same.

Hypernyms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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