incorporate

Formsincorporates, incorporating, incorporated

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To include something as a part of a larger whole.

   The architect chose to incorporate natural light into every room of the house.

   Modern cars incorporate sensors that warn drivers of nearby obstacles.

   Similarintegrate, absorb, assimilate, subsume, co-opt

   Oppositeexclude, omit

   Note

   The whole family of meanings starts from a body. Late Latin incorporare joined in- ("in") to corpus ("body"), so to incorporate something was first to put it into a body. The everyday verb usually takes into: you incorporate another's ideas into your work. Addison in 1716 could still use it of people, saying the Romans meant to incorporate conquered inhabitants into their own community.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To mix something in as an ingredient until it blends evenly into the rest.

   Gently incorporate the whipped cream so the batter stays light.

   The chef incorporated fresh herbs into the sauce just before serving.

   Similarmix, blend, fold, combine, stir

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To form a business into a legal company recognized by law.

   The founders chose to incorporate the startup before raising any money.

   Many freelancers incorporate their consulting work to reduce taxes.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To admit someone as a member of a company or organized body.

   The society agreed to incorporate the younger scholars as full members.

   The committee incorporated several volunteers into its permanent staff.

   Similaradmit, induct, enroll, absorb

   Oppositeexpel

5. 5
   verbintransitive

   To combine different ingredients or parts into one consistent mass.

   Mix the powder and resin until they incorporate into one even paste.

   Over time the sediments incorporated into a solid layer of rock.

   Similarblend, combine, merge, fuse, mix

   Oppositeseparate

   Note

   Here the verb makes one thing out of several, rather than slipping a part into a larger whole. Shakespeare uses it for marriage in Romeo and Juliet: "Till holy church incorporate two in one." The contrast with the everyday "include" sense is direction. There, one thing goes into another. Here, separate things become a single body.

6. 6
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To unite something with a material body; to give it a material form or embody it.

   Ancient writers imagined how a god might incorporate into mortal form.

   The legend describes a ghost that incorporated itself in a marble statue.

   Similarembody, materialize

   Note

   The theological and occult use, in which a spirit takes on matter. It usually appears in the passive with with. Edward Stillingfleet in 1710 reports a heathen belief that spirits might possess images "and be incorporated with them." On the page it is easy to confuse with the adjective meaning "bodiless", which shares the spelling and says the exact opposite.

7. 7
   verbUStransitive

   In US constitutional law, to apply a clause or guarantee of the Constitution to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.

   The Court moved to incorporate the Second Amendment, binding state governments to it.

   Later rulings incorporated the protection against unreasonable searches.

   Note

   A term of art in American constitutional law. The object is a guarantee, and the Fourteenth Amendment is the route it travels. Courts ask whether a given right is incorporated, meaning read into the Due Process Clause, so that it binds state governments as well as the federal one. Outside this legal setting, incorporating a clause simply means including it as a part.

8. 8
   adjective

   Not formed into a corporation, and so not existing as one in law.

   an incorporate banking association

   Note

   The legal counterpart of the negative prefix explained under the "bodiless" adjective. Here, not corporate means not formed into a corporation. The risk is ambiguity. An incorporate banking association could be read as a company that has been formed into a legal company, which is the reverse. Only the context settles which meaning is intended, so the word needs clear surroundings.

9. 9
   adjective

   Spiritual rather than physical, having no material body and not made of matter.

   Medieval thinkers debated whether angels were incorporate or possessed some subtle matter.

   The poet describes the spirit as incorporate, drifting free of flesh and bone.

   Similarincorporeal, immaterial, bodiless, spiritual, disembodied

   Oppositecorporeal, material, physical

   Note

   Here the prefix is the negative in-, not the in- of embodiment. The word is in- plus corporate, so it says the reverse of the "embodied" adjective spelled identically beside it. Walter Raleigh's The Historie of the World (1614) sets it among angels and "things invisible", the company it keeps. Because the twin reading lies so close, incorporeal is the safer choice when the meaning must be unmistakable.

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