corporation Hear it!

corporation Definition

cor·po·ra·tion (kôr′pə rā′s̸hən)

noun

  1. a legal entity that exists independently of the person or persons who have been granted the charter creating it and that is invested with many of the rights given to individuals: a corporation may enter into contracts, buy and sell property, etc.
  2. a group of people, as the mayor and aldermen of an incorporated town, legally authorized to act as an individual
  3. any of the political and economic bodies forming a corporative state, each being composed of the employers and employees in a certain industry, profession, etc.

  4. Etymology: prob. from assoc. with corpulent, etc.

    Informal a large, prominent belly

Etymology: ME corporacioun < LL(Ec) corporatio, assumption of a body, incarnation < pp. of L corporare: see corporate

corporation Synonyms

corporation

n.

partnership, enterprise, company, multinational; see business 4, organization 3.

corporation Finance Definition
A legal entity that exists under authority granted by state law. A corporation has its own identity, separate from its shareholders or owners, and as such can be sued, enter into contracts, buy or sell real estate or property, and even break the law. A corporation is responsible for its debts; typically, responsibility can’t be directly assessed to shareholders or corporate directors or officers. A corporation continues indefinitely and is not affected by the death of shareholders, directors, or officers.
corporation Law Definition

n

An entity, usually a business, created by a legislative act or by individuals who have agreed upon and filed articles of incorporation with the state government. Ownership in the corporation is typically represented by shares of stock. Furthermore, a corporation is legally recognized as an artificial person whose existence is separate and distinct from that of its shareholders who are not personally responsible for the corporation’s acts and debts. As an artificial person, a corporation has the power to acquire, own, and convey property, to sue and be sued, and such other powers of a natural person that the law may confer upon it. Abbreviated corp. See charter, corporate, and seal.
brother-sister corporation
See sister corporations.
C corporation
A corporation that pays corporate income taxes on its income rather than having its profits taxed as the personal income of its shareholders. Any corporation that is not a S corporation is, by default, a C corporation. Also called subchapter C corporation. See also S corporation.
close corporation
A corporation owned by a single individual or a small group of individuals, often all personally involved in the corporation’s business or related to another, who frequently conduct the corporation’s business without such formalities as annual shareholder meetings, and whose share of stocks cannot be sold to anyone outside the group without the prior permission of the other shareholders. The rights and privileges of such corporations vary state to state. Also called closed corporation, closely held corporation, or privately held corporation. See also publicly held corporation.
domestic corporation
  1. A corporation whose articles of incorporation have been filed in a particular state. (The corporation is a domestic corporation of that state.) See also foreign corporation.
  2. For federal income tax purposes, a corporation whose articles of incorporation have been filed in the United States.
dummy corporation
A corporation whose sole purpose is to conceal the owners’ identities and to protect them from personal liability.
foreign corporation
A corporation whose articles of incorporation have been filed in another state or country. (A corporation whose articles of incorporation have been filed in one state or country is a foreign corporation in every other state or country.) See also domestic corporation.
municipal corporation
A political entity, such as a county, city, town, village, or school district, that is created by and derives its limited powers of self-government (including the ability to enter contracts and to sue and be sued) from the state legislature. See also immunity.
nonprofit corporation
A corporation organized for a chartable, cultural, educational, religious, or some other purpose other than making a profit or distributing its income to its shareholders, officers, or others similarly affiliated with it. Usually, such corporations are given special treatment under state and federal tax laws. Also called not-for-profit corporation.
nonstock corporation
A corporation in which ownership is conferred by a membership charter or agreement that governs the owners’ rights and liabilities rather than by the ownership of shares of stock. For example, mutual savings banks and fraternal organizations are usually nonstock corporations.
parent corporation
Same as parent company. See company.
private corporation
A corporation created and owned by private individuals for a nongovernmental, usually business or nonprofit, purpose. See also public corporation.
professional corporation
A corporation owned by a small group of individuals who practice a common occupation that requires a professional license (such are accounting, architecture, law, or medicine). Such a corporation has the same, but not all, of the characteristics of a private corporation. Abbreviated P.C. Also called P.A. or professional association.
public corporation
  1. A corporation created by a state or the federal government and, while often financially independent of the government, engages as a government agency in activities that benefit the general public. A publicly appointed board of directors manages such a corporation. See also private corporation.
  2. See publicly held corporation.
publicly held corporation
A corporation whose shares of stock are sold to, freely traded amongst, and owned by a diverse group of shareholders who are members of the general public. See also close corporation.
S corporation
A corporation with a small number of shareholders that has elected, pursuant to Subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code, to have its income treated as personal income to its shareholders for income tax purposes rather than have the corporation pay the normal corporate income taxes on the income. Also called subchapter S corporation. See also C corporation.
shell corporation
A corporation that has no business or ongoing activity (and sometimes no substantial assets) of its own and is typically used to conceal another corporation’s business activities.
sister corporations
Two or more corporations that are subsidiaries of the same parent company. Also called brother-sister corporations. See also affiliate and company.
subsidiary corporation
A corporation in which a parent company owns enough shares to control its activities and the selection of its officers and directors. Also called a subsidiary.
corporation Usage Examples

Converse of subject

  • dominate: Unfortunately, these sorts of searches are presently dominated by big corporations with hefty search budgets.

Converse of object

  • incorporate: Start a company by incorporating corporation or forming a LTD, PLC or LLP at Coddan.
  • organize: The proprietary companies are corporations organized by a number of men to conduct life insurance as a business enterprise.

Adjective modifier

  • multinational: Firstly, from multinational corporations using their new global mobility to head for low tax regimes.
  • transnational: The WTO has no mandate to regulate the major trading players, the transnational corporations.
  • multi-national: Procter & Gamble are a multi billion dollar multi-national animal testing corporation.
  • trans-national: Of course trans-national Corporations can choose where they pay their taxes.
  • non-profit: Some non-profit charitable corporations threaten boycotts and then ask for and get grants from targeted companies.
  • nonprofit: The new facility will create a handful of skilled jobs downtown employed by a new nonprofit corporation founded by the EDG.

Modifies a noun

  • tax: To start with corporation tax rates are much lower than income tax rates.
  • filing: You receive some of the benefits of Nevada corporation filing without being hit by the double taxation common in S corporations.
  • presort: Own-occupation policies depend bond you'll have storms and other post corporation presort.
  • arc: Corporation arc used is superior to as the bill your blood glucose.
  • liability: The tax incentive is a form of tax relief, which reduces the investor's income tax or corporation tax liability.

Noun used with modifier

  • biotech: But it will help biotech corporations access new markets more easily.
  • starting: Use our Nevis starting corporation, Nevis company incorporator.
  • filing: Coddan is an online resource providing electronic filing corporation services and business products for use in the UK.
  • telecoms: A selection of organizations with WWW servers, including many major computing, electronics and telecoms corporations.
  • media: The huge quantity of its population especially attracts the attention of those global media corporations.
  • mining: These same indigenous peoples are being driven to extinction by the activities of the oil, timber and mining corporations.
corporation Quotes

Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

—Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett

New York is one of the capitals of the world and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic. San Francisco is a lady, Boston has become Urban Renewal, Philadelphia and Baltimore and Washington blink like dull diamonds in the smog of Eastern Megalopolis, and New Orleans is unremarkable past the French Quarter. Detroit is a one- trade town, Pittsburgh has lost its golden triangle. St Louis has become the golden arch of the corporation, and nights in Kansas City close early. The oil depletion allowance makes Houston and Dallas naught but checkerboards for this sort of game. But Chicago is a great American city. Perhaps it is the last of the great American cities.

—Mailer, Norman Kingsley