corporate

Pluralcorporates (some meanings)

Formscorporates, corporating, corporated

1. 1
   of a companyadjective

   Having to do with a corporation or its business activities.

   The merger triggered a major shift in corporate strategy.

   Employees pushed back against the strict new corporate dress code.

   UsageUsually before a noun: corporate law, corporate culture, corporate tax.

   Similarbusiness, commercial, organizational

2. 2
   head officenouncolloquialuncountable

   The head office and senior management of a company, seen as the part that makes the big decisions for its branches, stores or franchises.

   Corporate approved the new hire only after weeks of delay.

   Branch staff blamed corporate for the sudden layoffs.

   UsageUsed without the: corporate decided, orders from corporate. It often sounds resentful, so avoid it in formal reports.

   Note

   Office talk that treats senior management as a distant place orders arrive from: it came down from corporate. In a franchise chain it names the franchising company itself, as opposed to the stores.

3. 3
   large firmnouncountable

   A business organized as a corporation; a company or group of that kind, especially a large one.

   Small suppliers often depend on one or two big corporates for most of their orders.

   The startup was eventually bought by a multinational corporate.

   UsageTakes a and a plural, unlike the head-office use: a big corporate, lending to corporates.

   Similarcompany, corporation, firm, business, conglomerate

   Note

   Business and banking language for large companies treated as a class. The plural is spelled exactly like the bond-market noun, so context decides the meaning. Lending to corporates means companies, and holding corporates means corporate bonds.

4. 4
   legal bodyadjective

   Established as a legal corporation; formally incorporated as a single entity.

   Under its royal charter, the college became a corporate body able to own land in its own name.

   As a body corporate, the association can sign contracts and be sued as a single legal person.

   UsageOften in corporate body or, in law, the fixed phrase body corporate, with the adjective after the noun.

   Similarincorporated

   Oppositeunincorporated

   Note

   The participle hidden inside the adjective. Middle English corporat(e) could mean "embodied, physical," but it also served as the past participle of corporaten, "to incorporate," and that use survives here. The adjective dates from 1429. It describes a legal status: an association that is corporate has been made into one legal person. Compare the everyday "company" meaning, which only says that something has to do with a corporation. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Middle English corporat(e) could mean embodied or physical. en.wiktionary.org
   • Corporat(e) served as the past participle of corporaten. en.wiktionary.org
   • Corporaten meant to incorporate. en.wiktionary.org
   • The adjective is first attested in 1429. en.wiktionary.org
   • The incorporated sense preserves the participial meaning of being constituted as a legal corporation. en.wikipedia.org
   • A corporate association has legal status as a single legal person. en.wikipedia.org

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