corporation

American  

[kawr-puh-ray-shuhn] / ˌkɔr pəˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

• corporations
  plural

1. an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.

2. Corporation, the group of principal officials of a borough or other municipal division in England.

3. any group of persons united or regarded as united in one body.

4. Informal. a paunch; potbelly.

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corporation British  

/ ˌkɔːpəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. a group of people authorized by law to act as a legal personality and having its own powers, duties, and liabilities

2. Also called: municipal corporation. the municipal authorities of a city or town

3. a group of people acting as one body

4. See public corporation

5. informal a large paunch or belly

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corporation Cultural  

1. A business organization owned by a group of stockholders, each of whom enjoys limited liability (that is, each can be held responsible for losses only up to the limit of his or her investment). A corporation has the ability to raise capital by selling stock to the public.

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multicorporation
  noun
• noncorporation
  noun
• subcorporation
  noun
• supercorporation
  noun
• corporational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• corporations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of corporation

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Late Latin corporātiōn- (stem of corporātiō ) “guild,” Latin: “physical makeup, build”; see corporate, -ion

Explanation

Most of us think of corporations as companies — Amazon is one, Kellogg another, Disney a third. In reality, a corporation has a very particular legal meaning: it's a company that registers with a state government such that it has the same rights and responsibilities as a person. Know the word corpse? It means a dead body, and comes from the Latin corpus, "body." One way to remember corporation is that it turns a company into a body — a body that is considered a person in many respects in the eyes of the law. Corporations must pay taxes and follow laws. Because it is a separate entity, when a corporation fails, its employees and managers are not responsible for its debts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

corporation corporations

But it was wholly owned by the private corporation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

The firms downsize staff and sell off parts of the purchased company to create dividends, all while charging the purchased corporation management fees for their trouble.

From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026

The corporate fight won’t just be tech versus tech, but tech versus every major corporation that sells to consumers.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

The corporation said at the time that it was "exceptionally proud" of the shows, but they had to make "difficult choices in light of our funding challenges".

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

She stumbled on some medical records mixed in with his real estate files and discovered that a corporation was hiding contaminated water that was making people sick.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Some people—including former President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—use closely held S corporations to avoid the tax on some of their income.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

So yeah, I have enough to let a year drift, but I don’t know how to gauge or judge getting back into the club, the business, because corporations are frightened.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

But he argued that the "lesson of history is that we cannot leave it to corporations to put in place the guardrails to serve the public interest".

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Bilal said faith in politics, government and corporations is not high among his peers, but he’s trying to grow a network of young people to cultivate and support future leaders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

The BTF was funded by some of the country’s major corporations, and was administered by a multiracial body of officials.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Related Words

• business
• company
• enterprise