incorporated

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of incorporate.

   The architect incorporated natural light into every room of the design.

   Several reviewer comments were incorporated before the report went to print.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty, and the surrounding words decide which job it is doing. After a subject it reports an action (she incorporated the changes). After have or be it completes a perfect or a passive (the changes were incorporated). Because the verb takes an object, passives are common. When that object is a business, the participle shades into the company-status adjective: a firm that was incorporated becomes an incorporated firm.

2. 2
   adjectiveUS

   Organized as a legal company owned through shares, in which each shareholder's loss is limited to the value of the shares they hold.

   The startup became incorporated to shield its founders from personal liability.

   Shareholders in an incorporated company cannot be forced to cover its outstanding debts.

   Oppositeunincorporated

   Note

   A label of legal status rather than quality: a company either is incorporated or is not, so the adjective never takes more or very. The usage is American, where the status travels with the company's name as the suffix Inc. It sits most naturally before a noun naming an organization, as in an incorporated body or an incorporated association. Do not confuse it with the verb form meaning "included", as in ideas incorporated into a plan.

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