proper noun
noun
plural proper nouns
: a noun (such as Seattle, Joyce, or Empire State Building) that designates a particular being or thing, does not take a limiting modifier, and is usually capitalized in English
called also proper name
I think I can safely say that no rational person is hubristic enough to type "Zbigniew Brzezinski" … without first checking the spelling of the name, but the number of less formidable-looking proper nouns that wind up misspelled in manuscripts … is vast.—
Benjamin Dreyer
Benjamin DreyerExamples of proper noun in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
According to the current contract, which runs through 2029, Fox gets to claim the first three games off the Big Ten schedule (that’s where The Game, proper noun, keeps falling).
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2025
YouTube Golf may not be an official subsection of the platform, but the rapidly growing genre has become a proper noun among viewers.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 23 Aug. 2025
The comedy of this may be quickest to register with those who might describe themselves as some combination of super gay and very online—and those for whom certain proper nouns (Jeffree Star, Jordan Firstman) signify swiftly enough to catch the joke.
—Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2025
The hospital morphs baby into a proper noun and, in doing so, quasi-anthropomorphizes it—human, sure, but on the cusp.
—Erica Stern
june 9, Literary Hub, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for proper noun
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Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2025
YouTube Golf may not be an official subsection of the platform, but the rapidly growing genre has become a proper noun among viewers.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 23 Aug. 2025
The comedy of this may be quickest to register with those who might describe themselves as some combination of super gay and very online—and those for whom certain proper nouns (Jeffree Star, Jordan Firstman) signify swiftly enough to catch the joke.
—Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2025
The hospital morphs baby into a proper noun and, in doing so, quasi-anthropomorphizes it—human, sure, but on the cusp.
—Erica Stern
june 9, Literary Hub, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for proper noun
Cite this Entry
“Proper noun.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proper%20noun. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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