merger

American  

[mur-jer] / ˈmɜr dʒər /

noun

1. a statutory combination of two or more corporations by the transfer of the properties to one surviving corporation.

2. any combination of two or more business enterprises into a single enterprise.

3. an act or instance of merging.

   Astronomers say that the merger of galaxies can take a billion years.

4. Phonetics. the process or phenomenon whereby two distinct speech sounds come to be pronounced identically: for instance, the cot–caught vowel merger has taken place in some dialects of English.

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merger British  

/ ˈmɜːdʒə /

noun

1. Often called (Brit): amalgamation.  commerce the combination of two or more companies, either by the creation of a new organization or by absorption by one of the others

2. law the extinguishment of an estate, interest, contract, right, offence, etc, by its absorption into a greater one

3. the act of merging or the state of being merged

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merger Cultural  

1. The union of two or more independent corporations under a single ownership. Also known as takeovers, mergers may be friendly or hostile. In the latter case, the buying company, having met with resistance from directors of the targeted company, usually offers an inflated (overmarket) price to persuade stockholders of the targeted company to sell their shares to it. Such mergers often have been financed by junk bonds.

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Discover More

Especially common in the 1980s, hostile takeovers have become highly controversial. Some contend that they bring needed infusions of capital and efficiency to the targeted company. Others argue that, having borrowed heavily to finance the merger, the buyer is forced to sell valuable assets of the targeted company to pay off its debt.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• promerger
  adjective
• demerger
  noun
• antimerger
  adjective
• premerger
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of merger

First recorded in 1720–30; merge + -er ¹

Explanation

When two companies become one company, they've had a merger. A merger is like a marriage for things other than people. It might help you remember merger to think of something that happens on the highway: several lanes sometimes have to merge into one lane. Merging leads to more than one thing becoming one. Words that mean something similar to merger are unification and fusion. Separation and break-up are opposites of a merger.

Example Sentences

Infleqtion has a shorter track record as a public company, seeing as it debuted through a blank-check merger in mid-February.

From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026

Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX, collaborate on AI, with prediction markets showing up to a 50% merger chance.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

Since that merger announcement, pro football has become America’s favorite sport by a wide margin.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

Sixty years ago, the rival NFL and AFL announced a merger.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

He helped Federal Express develop its package tracking and tracing system, then moved over to McCaw Cellular, the mobile phone company, built that up, and oversaw its merger with AT&T in 1994.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

Related Words

• combination
• tie up
• unification
• union