incorporate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to form into a legal corporation.
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to put or introduce into a body or mass as an integral part or parts.
to incorporate revisions into a text.
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to take in or include as a part or parts, as the body or a mass does.
His book incorporates his earlier essay.
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to form or combine into one body or uniform substance, as ingredients.
- Synonyms:
- personify, amalgamate, mix, blend, assimilate, absorb
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His book incorporates all his thinking on the subject.
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to form into a society or organization.
verb (used without object)
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to form a legal corporation.
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to unite or combine so as to form one body.
adjective
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legally incorporated, as a company.
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combined into one body, mass, or substance.
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Archaic. embodied.
adjective
verb
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to include or be included as a part or member of a united whole
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to form or cause to form a united whole or mass; merge or blend
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to form (individuals, an unincorporated enterprise, etc) into a corporation or other organization with a separate legal identity from that of its owners or members
adjective
-
combined into a whole; incorporated
-
formed into or constituted as a corporation
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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incorporatesimple
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incorporatessimple
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have incorporatedperfect
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has incorporatedperfect
-
am incorporatingprogressive
-
are incorporatingprogressive
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is incorporatingprogressive
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have been incorporatingperfect progressive
-
has been incorporatingperfect progressive
Past
-
incorporatedsimple
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had incorporatedperfect
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was incorporatingprogressive
-
were incorporatingprogressive
-
had been incorporatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of incorporate1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Late Latin incorporātus, past participle of incorporāre “to embody, incarnate”; see in- 2, corporate
Origin of incorporate2
First recorded in 1525–35; from Late Latin incorporātus “not embodied”; see in- 3, corporate
Explanation
To incorporate is to include or integrate a part into the whole. Incorporate is a more active version of the word "include"; if you incorporate, you are adding something to the mix. In the business world, to incorporate is a legal process. In other usages, the word incorporate really just means to include something or work something into whatever was already existing. You could incorporate your new roommate's furniture into the decor of your apartment, but you may not find a way to incorporate her cat's litter box.
Vocabulary lists containing incorporate
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List 4
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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.
See Examples For:
With norteño-sax, the group could incorporate contemporary dating themes into songs that bring people physically closer to one another on the dance floor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Corporate investment, on the other hand, shows little sign of slowing as companies seek to develop or incorporate AI into their businesses before rivals do.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
The source said, however, the analysis could also incorporate additional records, such as driver’s license signatures.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
"We specifically wanted to incorporate a neural network model into this study to evaluate how accurate the descriptors were at capturing key structural information, in a way that is like human cognition."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Some lessons incorporate the arts, but do not incorporate the learning objectives and other criteria that fully integrate them, while others follow a deeper level of integration.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
It incorporates Nutri-Score data in its product assessments.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Running roughly 35 minutes and divided into eight movements, mostly without pauses between them, “Lincoln” incorporates texts from several sources written and sometimes spoken by our 16th president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
As the action ramps up, De Palma cleverly incorporates every narrative element of the great Hollywood film.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh concurred in the outcome based on the federal law that incorporates birthright citizenship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
The more intriguing aspect of children’s play is that it naturally incorporates the integration and multimodality that we attempt to instill during education such as dance, drama, and music.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
The field first emerged in the 1990s and gained credibility as the UN's climate panel incorporated the work into its assessments.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
More to the point, however, it incorporated spending with suppliers that Apple had been working with for years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
One raises the bar for shareholder proposals if a company is incorporated in Texas and its shares trade there or the company is headquartered in the state.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
To overcome this limitation, the researchers incorporated metamaterials directly into the MRI antenna.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
In preparation for longer, narrative stories in which sound effects and music are incorporated, there are many children’s rhymes that tell stories and incorporate fun sounds.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Pixar affirms this by incorporating a Totoro cameo into “Toy Story 3.”
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
It builds panels that ship as individual walls and are assembled on-site as well as modules incorporating whole rooms with drywall, fixtures, cabinets and utilities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
"When I pitched my idea, she was already thinking about incorporating some of the darkness so it made my job easy because we were so aligned."
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Such systems could one day help restore communication abilities after stroke by incorporating sensory processes to improve performance and usability.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
On the negative side, arts teachers are seen as separate “specialists,” which erroneously relieves the classroom teacher of any responsibility for incorporating the arts into the daily classroom experience.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
