corporation
Pluralcorporations
- 1A business or group that the law treats as a single legal person, separate from its owners.
Like a club that keeps going even when its members leave, and can act on its own.
The corporation can own property and sign contracts in its own name.
When the founder retired, the corporation kept operating without him.
UsageNot the same word as cooperation, which means working together.
Similarcompany, firm, business, enterprise
Note
- 2The group of people who officially govern a town or city.
Like the official team of leaders who run a whole town.
The corporation voted to repair the old town bridge.
She was elected to the corporation last spring.
Similarcouncil, municipality
- 3A big, round belly that sticks out.
He was a big chap with a corporation already, and a flat face rather like Dora's, and he had a thin black moustache.
1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le PageHere, corporation means a big belly that sticks out.'You'd be surprised,' said Stanley, as though this were intensely interesting, 'at the number of chaps at the club who have got a corporation.'
1918, Katherine Mansfield, ‘Prelude’UsageOften after have or with: a man with a corporation, sometimes with a size word like ample.
Similarpaunch
Note
Less common meaning
- 4In Fascist Italy, a group bringing together representatives of employers and workers in one industry.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin corporare, meaning to form into a body. The sense of a fat belly is perhaps a play on the word corpulence.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Corporation derives ultimately from Latin corporare, meaning to form into a body. en.wiktionary.org
- The fat-belly sense is perhaps a play on corpulence. en.wiktionary.org