incorporate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
incorporates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
incorporated,
past participle, past
-
incorporating
present participle
-
to form into a legal corporation.
-
to put or introduce into a body or mass as an integral part or parts.
to incorporate revisions into a text.
-
to take in or include as a part or parts, as the body or a mass does.
His book incorporates his earlier essay.
-
to form or combine into one body or uniform substance, as ingredients.
- Synonyms:
- personify, amalgamate, mix, blend, assimilate, absorb
-
His book incorporates all his thinking on the subject.
-
to form into a society or organization.
verb (used without object)
-
incorporates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
incorporated,
past participle, past
-
incorporating
present participle
-
to form a legal corporation.
-
to unite or combine so as to form one body.
adjective
-
legally incorporated, as a company.
-
combined into one body, mass, or substance.
-
Archaic. embodied.
adjective
verb
-
to include or be included as a part or member of a united whole
-
to form or cause to form a united whole or mass; merge or blend
-
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
-
incorporatesimple
-
incorporatessimple
-
have incorporatedperfect
-
has incorporatedperfect
-
am incorporatingprogressive
-
are incorporatingprogressive
-
is incorporatingprogressive
-
have been incorporatingperfect progressive
-
has been incorporatingperfect progressive
Past
-
incorporatedsimple
-
had incorporatedperfect
-
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
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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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:
"They usually incorporate risks that are two to three years on the horizon. But climate risks... do not fit with these market cycles," they said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
They say the decision is sort of to make space to innovate the live show and incorporate new things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
By 2023, though, advancements in generative AI made it clear that Rattle needed to incorporate the new technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Since then, his group has developed high-performance thermal interfaces and gallium nitride devices that incorporate boron arsenide for cooling.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Both Gaston and his wife would have liked to incorporate him into the family life, but Aureliano was a hermetic man with a cloud of mystery that time was making denser.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The new Pixel 11 incorporates AI advances from Google Gemini and has been "purpose-built to do more for you with less from you," said Google product leader Justin Savich.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
The Michigan survey will publish a final July figure that incorporates more recent consumer responses in two weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The Aero warms the water and incorporates the matcha, leaving you with a frothy base to serve on its own or mix with milk, lemonade, peach nectar or even espresso.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
With regard to “quality,” the evidence suggests profitability incorporates any information about expected returns that may be captured by a long list of quality metrics, including convoluted “roll-ups” of many separate measures of firm strength.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
In these cases, one mixes pseudorandom numbers from several computers, then incorporates the physical indeterminacy of randomly fluctuating voltages from a “white noise” source.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
And it has incorporated artificial-intelligence technology to expand the daily analysis to “peer groups” of competitors and suppliers.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
If the maintainers of an open-source project accept them, they are incorporated into the code.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
O'Grady also suggested that the River Lagan should be incorporated into next year's festival, which will once again take place in Belfast.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
If this principle can be successfully incorporated into practical devices, it could improve electricity generation efficiency in distributed energy systems used in buildings and factories.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
In 1903, when they formally incorporated as a township, they called their new home Tremont.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Now, in a memo released Wednesday, the White House is attempting to fight back against cybercrime by encouraging private companies to go after transnational criminal organizations “by incorporating the ingenuity of the private sector.”
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
They explain how this has worked in the past and how it could look in the modern day, incorporating constitutional meaning within your community, at your day job, and in your personal life.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2026
And while alumni watched from the sideline, the Bruins connected with youth football players on the field during, incorporating them into stretches, signing autographs and taking pictures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Beyond incorporating lessons from Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Taiwan has gained insights from the recent conflict in Iran about using drones as cost-effective defensive weapons, they said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
They were a social activity in which young people sang songs while clapping, incorporating drama, and some swinging movements.
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.
