closed corporation

American

noun

an incorporated business the stock of which is owned by a small group.

closed corporation British

noun

Also: close corporation. a corporation the stock of which is owned by a small number of persons and is rarely traded on the open market

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The union has been totally familial, a closed corporation.

From Time Magazine Archive

What was more, the stock was kept so much at home in this old Presbyterian family that until recently Phelps Dodge has remained practically a closed corporation.

From Time Magazine Archive

When others have tried to board the subsidy liner, "Club 13" has seemed a closed corporation; three applications have been pending before the board for three years or more, with no action.

From Time Magazine Archive

But last week Marshall Field & Co., following the lead of many another closed corporation, decided to let a portion of its stock pass to the public.

From Time Magazine Archive

Generally speaking, we have been a sort of closed corporation, a board of five, with each one given a vote and the right to cast it.

From When Winter Comes to Main Street by Overton, Grant Martin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023