public corporation

American  

noun

1. a corporation, owned and operated by a government, established for the administration of certain public programs.

2. municipal corporation.

3. a large private corporation with many shares, which are sold to the public or traded on a stock exchange.

---

public corporation British  

noun

1. (in Britain) an organization established to run a nationalized industry or state-owned enterprise. The chairman and board members are appointed by a government minister, and the government has overall control

---

Etymology

Origin of public corporation

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

But these explanations are solely for public consumption.

From Salon • Mar. 16, 2026

Thailand's economic growth slowed last year, official figures showed Monday, with the incoming government facing a struggling tourism sector and declining private and public consumption.

From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026

Constable’s oil sketches, most unintended for public consumption, could be just as large and daring, and were prized for their extraordinarily loose paint-handling, transient atmospheric effects and true-to-nature palettes, the fruit of his plein-air practice.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

Her spokeswoman Omawumi Ogbe told the BBC that the message had originally been shared within "a close circle of family and friends", and "was not for public consumption".

From BBC • Jan. 10, 2026

“Nollywood is really public theater, and if you understand it like that, then it is more tolerable. It’s for public consumption, even mass participation, not the kind of individual experience that film is.”

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie