corps

[kawr]

noun

plural

corps 

1. Military.

   1. a military organization consisting of officers and enlisted personnel or of officers alone: corps of cadets.

      the U.S. Marine Corps;

      corps of cadets.

   2. Also called army corps. a military unit of ground combat forces consisting of two or more divisions and other troops.

2. a group of persons associated or acting together.

   the diplomatic corps;

   the press corps.

   Synonyms: band, crew, force, team

3. Printing.,  a Continental designation that, preceded by a number, indicates size of type in Didot points of 0.0148 inch (3.8 millimeters).

   14 corps.

4. Obsolete.,  corpse.

corps

/ kɔː /

noun

1. a military formation that comprises two or more divisions and additional support arms

2. a military body with a specific function

   intelligence corps

   medical corps

3. a body of people associated together

   the diplomatic corps

Word History and Origins

Origin of corps¹

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English corps, cors, from Middle French, from Latin corpus “body”; corpse

Word History and Origins

Origin of corps¹

C18: from French, from Latin corpus body

Example Sentences

The corpses proved to be insufficient surrogates for Gein, who later devolved into murdering middle-aged women who reminded him of his mother.

From Los Angeles Times

They've released footage showing their fighters in a location which the BBC has identified as the headquarters of the military's armoured corps.

From BBC

“This is not about enforcing standards,” she said, “it’s about inculcating a particular value system within the officer corps.”

From Salon

The president told NBC News it would be an exercise in generating some "esprit de corps" - suggesting that he saw an opportunity to galvanise his troops.

From BBC

Ideally, their production should ease the burden on a relief corps that ranked 21st in the majors in ERA during the regular season, and has no clear-cut hierarchy for its most trusted arms.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• band 
• body 
• contingent 
• crew 
• detachment 
• division 
• squad 
• squadron 
• troop 
• troupe 
• unit