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

New York’s project “may point the way forward for other cities,” wrote Errol Schweizer, a grocery-industry veteran who has consulted the development corporation on the project, in a recent newsletter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

When a corporation is doing well and is financially secure, then, yes, the interest rate on its bonds will decline because investors will consider them safer.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

When a similar idea was raised last year, the trade body UK Finance said banks already paid both a corporation tax surcharge and a bank levy.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

More formally known as judicial dissolution, the corporate death penalty basically happens when the government is so pissed off by the corruption or damage a corporation causes that it yanks away their charter.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026

It allowed him to get paid for the same job twice, and to salve any guilt he felt about working for a demonic multinational corporation like IOI.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

This group, which researchers refer to as the “carbon majors,” includes big producers of oil, gas and coal, both private corporations and state-owned enterprises in countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Multinational corporations are getting nearly $200 billion back in tariff refunds from the U.S. government, helping to turbocharge some companies’ earnings.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

Governments and corporations sell bonds - essentially an IOU - to raise money for spending, and in return they pay interest.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Strategy also focuses on weapons systems, which corporations build for lots of money and legislators approve for lots of factory jobs.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

These farms aren’t owned by big agribusiness corporations.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Related Words

• business
• company
• enterprise