corps
Americannoun
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Military.
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a military organization consisting of officers and enlisted personnel or of officers alone: corps of cadets.
the U.S. Marine Corps;
corps of cadets.
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Also called army corps. a military unit of ground combat forces consisting of two or more divisions and other troops.
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a group of persons associated or acting together.
the diplomatic corps;
the press corps.
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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.
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Obsolete. corpse.
noun
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a military formation that comprises two or more divisions and additional support arms
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a military body with a specific function
intelligence corps
medical corps
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a body of people associated together
the diplomatic corps
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of corps
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English corps, cors, from Middle French, from Latin corpus “body”; see also corpse
Explanation
A corps is an army unit consisting of at least two divisions. This word can also refer to other groups of people, like a press corps, which is a gang of journalists trying to get the scoop. Although the word corps comes from the Latin corpus, for “body,” don’t pronounce the p or you’re talking about the kind of body that goes in a coffin. The main meaning of a corps (which is singular despite the s) is a unit of the army. The word applies to other groups, too. A law firm has a corps of lawyers, a doctor has a corps of nurses, and a tiny car could have a corps of clowns.
Vocabulary lists containing corps
Body Language: Corp ("Body")
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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 King spoke in front of an Apache helicopter on display at the Army Flying Museum at the corps' base in Middle Wallop.
From BBC • May 13, 2024
Still, Ocasio-Cortez celebrated the corps’ official arrival at the press conference on Monday.
From Salon • Apr. 23, 2024
General Zahedi, three Iranian officials and a Guard member said, was the corps’ top commander in the region, in charge of Iran’s network of proxy militias, particularly those in Lebanon and Syria.
From New York Times • Apr. 2, 2024
The corps’ enemies, however, never questioned that it would be effective.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 21, 2023
Two corps of strange troops had come in from the Army of the Potomac, and had been consolidated into one, taking an old corps' number.
From Si Klegg, Book 6 (of 6) Si And Shorty, With Their Boy Recruits, Enter On The Atlanta Campaign by McElroy, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
