corporation

American  

[kawr-puh-rey-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

He has crisscrossed the country in recent months to testify in suits against the corporation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

"Known for his uncompromising style of play and larger-than-life sense of humour, Joe has built a reputation as one of the UK's most entertaining sporting personalities," the corporation said.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

The subscription channel outbid the corporation, which had been the main partner and provided free-to-air coverage since 1954 for 18 games in-a-row.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

At Anthropic, as at OpenAI, a mission entity—here, a “purpose trust”—controls a public benefit corporation, Anthropic PBC, by appointing a majority of its board.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

He agreed, though: The main effect of turning a partnership into a corporation was to transfer the financial risk to the shareholders.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

A digital bill of rights would be a major part of that by boosting privacy and protecting the level of data that corporations can siphon up about ordinary people.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

A large number of corporations are already using open-weight models.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

And her campaign is floating the idea that “if millionaires and corporations chip in 17 cents out of every dollar earned after that first million, it could lower all our property taxes by 44%.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

Philippine outsourcing companies compete directly with rivals in India and elsewhere for contracts from multinational corporations.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Of course, everyone is like, da da da, evil corporations, oh they’re so had, we all say that, and we all know they control everything.

From "Feed" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

• business
• company
• enterprise