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

The author is bitter toward the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the public corporation overseeing New York transit, for borrowing from Wall Street, just as the private rail lines did.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

Holladay-Hollifield began seeking records from Huntsville Hospital, which is overseen by the Health Care Authority of the City of Huntsville, a public corporation, in early 2023.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 9, 2024

For a start, not even the most popular and best-paid performers have the power to dictate policy for a major Standard & Poor’s 500 public corporation.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 19, 2023

Since 2017, they have been recognized as a public corporation everywhere in Germany.

From Reuters • Mar. 10, 2023

John Gutfreund had done violence to the Wall Street social order—and got himself dubbed the King of Wall Street—when, in 1981, he’d turned Salomon Brothers from a private partnership into Wall Street’s first public corporation.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis