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Collective Nouns Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Collective Nouns Quizzes, Trivia

Collective Nouns Trivia

Collective Nouns Trivia Quizzes

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Collective nouns are terms that indicate that there is a group of more than one of the item being described. They may used for animals (a pack of wolves or a crash of rhinoceros), for people (a team of soccer players) and for inanimate objects (a bunch of grapes). Some collective nouns are more familiar than others.
7 Collective Nouns quizzes and 75 Collective Nouns trivia questions.
1.
Unusual Collective Nouns
  Unusual Collective Nouns   great trivia quiz  
Photo Quiz
 10 Qns
Can you work out this collective nouns from the photo clues given? Good luck.
Very Easy, 10 Qns, Creedy, Jul 02 20
Very Easy
Creedy gold member
Jul 02 20
2138 plays
2.
  Unusual Collective Terms 2   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Ten more unusual collective terms, this time for groups of animals. Have fun.
Easier, 10 Qns, Creedy, Jun 29 23
Easier
Creedy gold member
Jun 29 23
1077 plays
3.
  Group Collective Names    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
How many of these collective terms for groups of people do you know? Have fun! (Note: As per Wikepedia Collective Nouns page)
Average, 10 Qns, Creedy, Apr 08 16
Average
Creedy gold member
1386 plays
4.
  10 Question Collective Nouns Quiz    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In this quiz you are asked for the correct collective noun for certain specific groups.E.g. do bees live in colonies, swarms, clutches or in flocks? Multiple choice in all cases.
Average, 10 Qns, flem-ish, May 29 22
Average
flem-ish
May 29 22
4473 plays
5.
  Group Collective Names Two    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A few more unusual collective terms for you to ponder over. Have fun.
Average, 10 Qns, Creedy, Feb 17 17
Average
Creedy gold member
841 plays
6.
  The Strange World of Collective Nouns    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
We have all heard of a "pack of wolves" or a "herd of elephants" but what do you call a group of rattlesnakes? Or arsonists? Or mushrooms? Come on a trip around the world with me to find out.
Very Difficult, 15 Qns, thelovelylulu, Jan 30 22
Very Difficult
thelovelylulu
Jan 30 22
3401 plays
7.
  Tough Collective Nouns Trivia    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Collective nouns are thought only to exist for animals, but in fact there are many groups (of humans) that also have collective nouns, based often on their gender or their occupation. Test your knowledge of these collectives in this quiz.
Tough, 10 Qns, jglane, Apr 08 16
Tough
jglane
1474 plays

Collective Nouns Trivia Questions

1. Considering that they cannot produce offspring, what is the collective term for mules?

From Quiz
Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A barren

Found in the "The Trivia Encyclopedia" by Fred L. Worth, published by Berkley Pub Group, 1984, a barren of mules reflects the sad fact that mules, the offspring of a female horse and a male donkey, are hybrid and sterile animals, and cannot produce offspring of their own.

2. What is the punitive collective term for a group of jellyfish?

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: Smack

A group of jellyfish together would seem to make no noise at all, given their gelatinous physiological structure, but such is the case. Belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, jellyfish are usually umbrella shaped with various long and trailing tentacles. These can sting in some species, so treat them very warily. Jellyfish do not posses a respiratory system, but instead, because their skin is so thin, they are oxygenated by a process known as diffusion. Comprised for the most part of water - up to 98% in some species - one would think that a more appropriate term for a group of them would be a splat rather than a smack.

3. What is a group of bureaucrats? (It's a shoe-in)

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Shuffle

Bureaucrats are government employees who carry out - or do not carry out - various administrative functions of governmental departments. Today most of these same organisations and their bureaucrats have become rather bogged down with massive amounts of sometimes unnecessary, irrelevant and ridiculous regulations. A classic example of this in this country is the time we had to apply for tax file numbers. Filling out reams of paperwork to do so from the relevant government department, we were eventually told that the numbers couldn't be issued until we provided copies of our birth certificates. On subsequently filling out reams of paperwork to obtain these birth certificates from another government department, we were then eventually informed that birth certificates couldn't be provided until we had first provided our tax file numbers.

4. Men, women, boys and girls are all groups that have collective nouns. Which combination below is the correct sequence for these groups?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: Band, Gaggle, Blush, Giggle

The correct answers are a band of men, a gaggle of women, a blush of boys and a giggle of girls. However, some of the other collective nouns were also used but not in this context. These include a banner of knights, a gang of workmen/labourers, a bevy of ladies, a team of athletes, an troop of boy scouts and an impatience of wives.

5. We'll start our trip in the North American desert where we find a group of rattlesnakes. This collective shares a name with which dance?

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: Rhumba

You cannot tell how old a rattlesnake is by the number of its rattles. A new rattle segment is added every time a rattle snake sheds its skin but how often this happens depends on a number of factors including food supply and growth rates. Rattles can also break off.

6. What is the correct collective term for grapes still on the vine?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a cluster of

Tuft would be suitable for grass. A bunch of grapes is what you buy in the shop. A bunch is already detached from the vine. A bevy...is a large group of people esp. women or girls. Just go and see 'Moulin Rouge': bevies of pretty girls.

7. What do you call a large group of hippos relaxing in water?

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A float

Found in "Collective Terms for Groups of Animals", Oxford University Press, United Kingdom, 2006, a hippopotamus is a large mammal found in Africa. It is the third biggest of Africa's land creatures. The origin of its peculiar name is Greek and translates to "river horse", but don't expect this lumbering herbivore to win any sprints. It can do a thundering run of 30 kilometres (19 miles) per hour for short distances however if it has to, but much prefers to spend its days partly submerged in the cooling waters of any river it can find. A group of crocodiles is also known by this collective term as well.

8. A group of seagulls is referred to as what?

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: Squabble

How apt is that? Especially if any food is tossed to them from picnic tables. The resulting noise and squabble is deafening. Don't feed them, even though tempted to. Many of these birds are missing a foot, or even both, and try to hobble around keeping up with the others. They almost always miss out on those scraps, and it's kind of heartbreaking to see them trying to desperately grab some while attempting to keep their balance at the same time. Seagulls belong to the family Laridae and are distantly related to auks and skimmers. They're scavengers and carnivores for the most part, and favourite treats, apart from picnic scraps, include crabs and other small sea creatures. Oh this is horrible: Some seagulls even feed off live whales. They dive down onto those large and gracious creatures and peck out pieces of their flesh. Not the poor little feetless gulls though. They have a hard enough job balancing on solid ground.

9. What administrative term is applied to a group of civil servants?

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A File

Civil servants bear much the same function as bureaucrats, that of staff members involved in public administration. This term does not include the armed services.

10. Trying to escape the rattlesnakes, we seek shelter in an ghost town. Unfortunately, we have not been there long when the town is burned to the ground by a band of arsonists. What fiery term denotes this destruction of multiple buildings?

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: a conflagration

Guy Fawkes is one of the most famous arsonists. In 1605, he plotted to kill King James I and the members of both houses of Parliament in England by blowing up Westminster Palace during its formal opening session. He was caught and executed for treason and attempted murder.

11. Which word expresses best the idea of an integrated number of rooms in a hotel?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a suite

12. Given their voracious appetites, what is the collective term for a group of cormorants?

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A gulp

Found in the work "Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of..?" by U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 2015, cormorants are part of a family of 40 different bird species. This bird, which looks a little like a penguin-duck mix, can be found nesting in cliffs along seashores. They catch their food by diving under the water, scooping up a fish, and swallowing it in one greedy gulp. Man has utilised this bird in the fishing industry for over 1,300 years, particularly in India, Egypt, China and Japan. The birds are trained to catch their prey and return them to the boats, and are prevented from swallowing all but the smallest fish by bands placed around their necks. Their reward is of course a small fish each time, with the larger fish retained by the fishermen to be sold or traded or eaten by his own family.

13. It's hard to figure out this connection, but what is a group of rattlesnakes?

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: A rhumba

Rattlesnakes are venomous, creepy looking creatures from the family of pit vipers. There are at least 36 different species of them, and their favourite treats are small birds and rodents. Rattlesnakes do give predators, including man, the courtesy of warning them first with their distinctive rattle sound, and this can deter some attackers. Otherwise, they're goners. Rattlesnakes seldom bite unless threatened though, and you'll be pleased to know that their bites are seldom fatal for humans. Some consolation. I'd drop dead from the shock regardless of the bite. Aha, here's a possible explanation for their collective term: During mating season, a receptive female leaves a trail of pheromones behind her and the male, once he picks up that scent, follows her around for days until she invites him in. However, if there are two males, they will often fight one another for that right, and, when they do get into a scuffle, they twist and intertwine around one another, darting and moving their heads about, until one cedes the battle. This is called a combat dance, and the rhumba grouping term followed on from that.

14. What is a group of meteorologists? (Raindrops are falling on my head la la la)

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Shower

Meteorologists are scientists who study the atmosphere. It is a very old discipline stretching back over centuries with an impressive array of knowledge gleaned by members who have sometimes had but the most minimal of equipment to help in their work. The great Aristotle (384-322 BC) is considered the father of this science.

15. Most elections see a large number of candidates trying to get elected to a certain position. But what is the correct collective noun for a group of candidates?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: A slate

Although it seems that a ballot (paper) should be the correct answer, it is in fact a slate of candidates. Of course, whichever candidate is elected generally enters a subsequent group with different collective nouns. Often this group is that of politicians, for which every collective noun always seems to be negative.

16. America seems to hold too much danger so our next stop is England. We have a refreshing cup of tea with my friend. She has a collection of over 300 teddy bears. What cute collective term could be used to describe this collection?

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: A hug

The technical term for a person who loves teddy bears is an arctophile.

17. What expresses best the idea of a 'mixture of tunes put together to form a longer piece of music'?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a medley

You could speak of a set of teacups, tools etc. A batch of French loaves. An assortment of Belgian chocolates or English toffees.

18. Bearing in mind their behaviour and grumpiness at times, what is the appropriate term for a group of teenagers?

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: An attitude

The origins of this collective term for a group of teenagers is unknown, but it's so spot on that it's really amusing. At times you wish you'd reared goldfish instead of teenagers with their moods, their mutters, their conviction that everyone is picking on them, their certainty that nobody loves or understand them, their messy rooms, their grumpiness and so on. Ah but they're impossible not to love. Somebody has to, that's for sure. But then, suddenly, in the blink of a tear-filled eye, they're gone and you're left with only memories. Cherish every single moment while you have it, moods and all.

19. What is the name for a group of flies?

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: A business

Flies - buzzing constanty, landing on food, landing on faces and hands, buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. They're the most annoying and busy insects under the sun. Belonging to the order Diptera, flies are members of the larger family that includes equally annoying mosquitoes, gnats, midges, sand flies and the like. Oh ugh, this is even more disgusting. Female flies lay their eggs as close to any food source as possible, and, after laying, the eggs immediately hatch, and then proceed to eat as much as they can in the shortest time. Some eggs even hatch inside the female. Shades of the 1979 movie "Alien"! If you're ever down here in Australia, you'll see many Aussies, in the hotter stickier weather, performing the great Australian salute. That takes place because we're constantly waving flies away from our faces.

20. What is a group of grandparents? (Down through the ages)

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Wisdom

Grandparents are the ever so delightful parents of one's father or mother. While it is not necessarily true that they are full of wisdom, it can be stated with a degree of accuracy that they do contain, for the most part, a wealth of experience. They may not know (or care about) the Theorem of Pythagoras, or even how to spell it, but their life's experience should not be disregarded when it comes to matters involving the human condition.

21. Refreshed from the tea, we take a walk in the nearby woods and find a group of mushrooms. We are hungry, so stop and munch on a few. What is the correct collective term for the group of fungi we have discovered?

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: a troop

You should never eat mushrooms you find in the wild, unless you are very experienced in their identification. Many mushrooms that look like edible varieties can be poisonous and lead to vomiting, hallucinations and even death.

22. What do herring live in?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: shoals

States may form a confederation. Nuns and regular clerics may belong to a congregation. Bees constitute swarms. Fish live in shoals. 'The shoals of herring' is an Irish folksong. Occasionally the word school is to be preferred e.g. for whales and dolphins.

23. Considering the base from which they work, what is an appropriate term for a group of naval admirals?

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A bridge

Bridge, as in bridge of a ship that is, the elevated enclosure where the officers of the vessel direct operations. This saying can be found in "An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition", by James Lipton, published by Penguin USA, 1993. Admirals are more often than not based on the headquarters on land rather than on a ship, but are so much associated with ocean going vessels that this saying is most appropriate.

24. Perhaps these creatures are theatre goers. What is a group of squid called?

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: An audience

Squid belong to the order Teuthida. They are cephalopods, and, like all of their kind, the head is their most outstanding feature. Amazingly these sea creatures can leap from the water for such distances that they appear to be flying. Also amazing is the fact that they have three hearts, two for the gills, and with both of these on either side of the central heart. Squid are quite hideous looking creatures that only a mother could love. Humans also love squid - on a plate.

25. What physiological term is applied to a group of beards?

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Chin

This comical collective term pretty well says it all. Beards consist of hair on faces around the chin area. Fortunately most beards occur on men instead of women. I do believe, though it may not be true, that the reason for this is that women find it hard to apply lipstick if they have beards. The study of beards is called pogonology. Who on earth would want to study beards? Throughout the history of mankind, beards have been associated with manliness, virility and wisdom. Oh blah, blah, blah, as if. Here's something interesting though: Ancient Egyptians sometimes attached false beards to their cows. Now that's enough to make any self-respecting girl give a moo or two.

26. A number of banknotes pressed tightly together is called what?

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a wad

Wheat can be arranged in sheaves. Books, magazines that are lying about will be called a heap. When they can be carried, we call them a pile.

27. What is the collective term for a group of baby chickens?

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A peep

This can be found in Terry Ross's work "Group Names for Birds" and sums up perfectly the sounds of small chickens as they gather around the old mother hen for protection and solace. It is such a lovely sight to see and hear, and their harassed parent always seems to know exactly where each one of her brood is at any given time, as she anxiously supervises and guards them from any would be predators.

28. Can you name the perplexing name of a group of gnus?

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: An implausibility

Gnus, also known as wildebeests, are a type of antelope from the family Bovidae. Found mostly in the south and east of Africa, most (but not all) gnus are known for their huge annual migrations which appear to be related to seasonal rainfalls and the growth of new pastures. This is a very dangerous time for them, as the path of that migration often involves crossing wide rivers inhabited with crocodiles. This has earned them the collective term of an implausibility of gnus because it is implausible that they appear to be so suicidal in this regard. But a gnu's gotta do what a gnu's gotta gnu.

29. What is a thoughtful term for a group of philosophers?

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Ponder

Philosophy is the study of concepts such as existence, thought, knowledge and so forth. It can be quite interesting, but also, unless you've had several cups of coffee to clear your head, extremely confusing. A reading of same is also highly recommended if you require a good night's sleep. I think, therefore I play trivia.

30. Falling into a deep sleep after seeing the magical beasts, we are eventually woken by the cawing of a group of ravens. What term would we NOT use to describe this group?

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: A parliament

A parliament can, however, be used to describe a group of rooks or owls.

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