company

American  

[kuhm-puh-nee] / ˈkʌm pə ni /

noun

• companies
  plural

1. a number of individuals assembled or associated together; group of people.

   Synonyms:

   body, assemblage, group

2. a guest or guests.

   We're having company for dinner.

3. an assemblage of persons for social purposes.

   Synonyms:

   crowd, gathering

4. companionship; fellowship; association.

   I always enjoy her company.

5. one's usual companions.

   I don't like the company he keeps.

6. society collectively.

   Synonyms:

   corporation, house, firm

7. a number of persons united or incorporated for joint action, especially for business.

   a publishing company;

   a dance company.

8. (initial capital letter) the members of a firm not specifically named in the firm's title.

   George Higgins and Company.

9. Military.

   1. the smallest body of troops, consisting of a headquarters and two or three platoons.

   2. any relatively small group of soldiers.

   3. Army. a basic unit with both tactical and administrative functions.

10. a unit of firefighters, including their special apparatus.

    a hook-and-ladder company.

11. Also called ship's company. a ship's crew, including the officers.

12. a medieval trade guild.

13. Informal. the Company, a nation's major intelligence-gathering and espionage organization, as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

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verb (used without object)

• companies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• companied,
  past participle,  past
• companying
  present participle

1. Archaic. to associate.

verb (used with object)

• companies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• companied,
  past participle,  past
• companying
  present participle

1. Archaic. to accompany.

idioms

1. keep company,

   1. to associate with; be a friend of.

   2. Informal. to go together, as in courtship.

      My sister has been keeping company with a young lawyer.

2. part company,

   1. to cease association or friendship with.

      We parted company 20 years ago after the argument.

   2. to take a different or opposite view; differ.

      He parted company with his father on politics.

   3. to separate.

      We parted company at the airport.

company British  

/ ˈkʌmpənɪ /

noun

1. a number of people gathered together; assembly

2. the fact of being with someone; companionship

   I enjoy her company

3. a social visitor or visitors; guest or guests

4. a business enterprise

5. Abbreviation: Co, co. the members of an enterprise not specifically mentioned in the enterprise's title

6. a group of actors, usually including business and technical personnel

7. a unit of around 100 troops, usually comprising two or more platoons

8. the officers and crew of a ship

9. a unit of Girl Guides

10. English history a medieval guild

11. 1. to accompany (someone)

    2. (esp of lovers) to associate with each other; spend time together

12. 1. to end a friendship or association, esp as a result of a quarrel; separate

    2. (foll by with) to leave; go away (from); be separated (from)

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verb

1. archaic to keep company or associate (with someone)

company More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing company

• keep someone company
• misery loves company
• part company
• two's company

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Usage

What does company mean? Company refers to a group of people. Company is a common word with many different specific meanings, but they all have to do with a gathering of people or interaction among a group of people. The word company perhaps most commonly refers to a business. Energizer is a company that makes and sells batteries. When company is used in the name of a business, it is often abbreviated as Co. Company can be the guests you have over to your house. It can also refer to the presence of others: enjoying the company of your cousins. Example: Sarah likes to walk home from school in the company of her best friend, Joe.

Synonym Usage

Company, band, party, troop refer to a group of people formally or informally associated. Company is the general word and means any group of people: a company of motorists. Band, used especially of a band of musicians, suggests a relatively small group pursuing the same purpose or sharing a common fate: a concert by a band; a band of survivors. Party, except when used of a political group, usually implies an indefinite and temporary assemblage, as for some common pursuit: a spelunking party. Troop, used specifically of a body of cavalry, usually implies a number of individuals organized as a unit: a troop of cavalry.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• companyless
  adjective
• intercompany
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• companies
  plural

Participles

• companying
  present
• companied
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• company
  simple
• companies
  simple
• have companied
  perfect
• has companied
  perfect
• am companying
  progressive
• are companying
  progressive
• is companying
  progressive
• have been companying
  perfect progressive
• has been companying
  perfect progressive

Past

• companied
  simple
• had companied
  perfect
• was companying
  progressive
• were companying
  progressive
• had been companying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will company
  simple
• will have companied
  perfect
• will be companying
  progressive
• will have been companying
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of company

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French; Old French compaignie “companionship,” equivalent to compain (from Late Latin compāniō; see companion ¹) + -ie -y ³

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Explanation

Company most often implies a group, whether it be a group of people, a unit of firefighters, a small group of soldiers, or a group working for the same business. Company can also refer to a visitor, often for dinner. This usage is both singular and plural, so if your mom says "there's company coming for dinner," you will need to know how many places to set at the table. There are more than a few idioms using the word company. When you are with someone, you “keep company” with them. For the more dour, there is “misery loves company."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

company companies companied companying

We still do not know what the broadcaster did when it was first warned about the serious allegations by the production company.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

Marissa Gencarelli, co-founder of a tortilla company in Kansas City, Mo., says she often starts her day with Vietnamese shrimp rolls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026

Nvidia Corp. is a global tech company based in Santa Clara, Calif., whose graphic processing units, or GPUs, dominate the market for AI chips.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2026

The company is a subsidiary of film studio Paramount, which said several people were hurt in the accident.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

How different was this small company from the one that had started out so bravely this morning.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

Cereal companies are scrambling to keep customers by adding protein to their products and reducing artificial dyes and sugar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026

A British stuntman and actor is suing one of the companies behind Gladiator II, saying he suffered "excruciating" burns and permanent scarring in an accident while filming a scene on a burning ship.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

With Starlink, the company currently offers satellite-based internet, as well as limited mobile connectivity as an add-on with established companies, such as T-Mobile.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

Valuation tools aren’t much help with Elon Musk’s companies.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Those companies that did make MDR drugs could pretty much name their own price.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

It handed lucrative contracts to the country’s biggest construction companied.

From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2016

The companied initially tried to list its shares on the Hong Kong Exchange, which would seem to be a friendly home.

From Time ● Sep. 19, 2014

And presumably it is at least an implication of Bacon's dictum that our poor illiterate lonely hordes are neither companied nor "full", for reading accomplisheth fullness.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 17, 2011

Generals and admirals in varied uniforms, sun helmets, marine wool jackets, coveralls, khakis and tin hats, ac companied him on an inspection tour.

From Time Magazine Archive

The loneliest soul is companied tonight By hosts of unknown men.

From The New Morning Poems by Alfred Noyes

These “young men and mayds” were convicted by the magistrate of “meeting at unseasonable times, and of night walking, and companying together contrary to civility and good nurture, tending to vitiate one another.”

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 4, 2018

As it turned out, the U.S. newsmen ac companying Nixon faced dangers of their own when the Caracas mobs started to swarm the next day.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sus 1:58 Now therefore tell me, Under what tree didst thou take them companying together?

From Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible Apocrypha by Anonymous

For intimacy is the full enjoyment of friendship, and most pleasant is companying with and spending the day with a friend.

From Plutarch's Morals by Arthur Richard Shilleto

Through the golden gate of the ear have gone what noble truths, companying together what messengers of affection, what sweet friendships.

From A Man's Value to Society Studies in Self Culture and Character by Newell Dwight Hillis

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Related Words

• association
• club
• community
• group
• party
• team

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