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

This time rather than playing as the daughter of Ellen Ripley, you play as Blake, a chief executive of the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

At least one major corporation sees value in bringing whimsy to the payment process too.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a congressionally chartered nonprofit corporation that is challenging the ballroom project, told the Supreme Court that the administration’s petition amounts to an attempt to “outrun judicial review.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

There is something uniquely irritating about being emotionally pursued by a corporation that has also failed to notice you moved away.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

Under Hoover, agents were now seen as interchangeable cogs, like employees in a large corporation.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

The whole affair builds into a major national trial and media circus that stands to expose Acme’s misdeeds and change the way that the company, and all major corporations in America, do business.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

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

Yet Priya Parker, an independent facilitator and strategic adviser to corporations, nonprofits, political organizations and multigenerational families, initially shrank from the prospect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Credit markets have functioned smoothly, heavy supply has been absorbed and the main AI issuers still are “elite corporations with incredible balance sheets.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 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