corps

[kawr, kohr]

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noun, plural corps

[kawrz, kohrz] /kɔrz, koʊrz/.

Military.
1. a military organization consisting of officers and enlisted personnel or of officers alone: the U.S. Marine Corps; corps of cadets.
2. a military unit of ground combat forces consisting of two or more divisions and other troops.
a group of persons associated or acting together: the diplomatic corps; the press corps.
Printing. a Continental designation that, preceded by a number, indicates size of type in Didot points of 0.0148 inches (3.8 mm): 14 corps.

Obsolete. corpse.

Origin of corps

1225–75; Middle English corps, cors < Middle French < Latin corpus body; see corpse

Can be confusedcore corp. corps corpse corpus

Synonyms for corps

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2. team, force, crew, band.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for corps

body, division, contingent, crew, band, detachment, squad, troop, troupe, squadron, unit, company, posse, outfit, regiment, team, party, brigade

Examples from the Web for corps

Contemporary Examples of corps

There were now five British corps in the British sector, and five American corps in the American sector.
Blood in the Sand: When James Jones Wrote a Grunt’s View of D-Day
James Jones
November 15, 2014
It was now almost impossible to speak of individual divisions in relation to these actions, but only of corps.
Blood in the Sand: When James Jones Wrote a Grunt’s View of D-Day
James Jones
November 15, 2014
He was deciding whether or not he wanted to stay in the Corps.
A Man to Believe In: Eulogy for Marine Master Sergeant Aaron Torian
Elliot Ackerman
March 5, 2014
As a Teach For America 2011 corps member, I spent the last two years teaching 5th grade at a charter school in Harlem.
A Teach for America Alum On How Testing Is Hurting Our Kids
Jonathan Sheehan
October 9, 2013
The next COAS will come from the shadowy group of a dozen corps commanders who run the Army.
Pakistan’s Impossible Year: Elections, Army Intrigue, and More
Bruce Riedel
December 29, 2012

Historical Examples of corps

They are the volunteers, the owner-drivers of the Corps, many of them men of wealth and title.
Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
The first Maryland brigade as a corps de reserve on the road.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion
William Dobein James
Had this corps been well trained the enemy must have been beaten.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion
William Dobein James
There was, as well, a little excited undertalk from one corps to the other.
Camps, Quarters and Casual Places
Archibald Forbes
They wished to have it established that their corps was not subject to the captain's authority.
The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson
Robert Southey

British Dictionary definitions for corps

corps

noun plural corps (kɔːz)

a military formation that comprises two or more divisions and additional support arms
a military body with a specific functionintelligence corps; medical corps
a body of people associated togetherthe diplomatic corps

Word Origin for corps

C18: from French, from Latin corpus body

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

Word Origin and History for corps

late 13c., cors "body," from Old French cors "body, person, corpse, life" (9c.), from Latin corpus "body" (see corporeal). Sense in English evolved from "dead body" (13c.) to "live body" (14c.) to "body of citizens" (15c.) to "band of knights" (mid-15c.). The modern military sense (1704) is from French corps d'armée (16c.), picked up in English during Marlborough's campaigns.

French restored the Latin -p- in 14c., and English followed 15c., but the pronunciation remained "corse" at first and corse persisted as a parallel formation. After the -p- began to be sounded (16c. in English), corse became archaic or poetic only.