Corporate

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkɔː.pə.ɹət/

Definitions

1. Connected to a large company or business entity ; involving or shared by a group acting together
2. Pertaining to the legal body of a company or organization ; belonging to or representing a collective group
3. Associated with a corporation as a business unit ; characterized by joint participation or collective responsibility

Etymology: "Corporate" carries a body-shaped idea in its very root. Its Latin source, "corpus," meant "body," and the verb "corporō" meant "to make into a body." A Latin past participle, "corporātus," gave English a word that first described something physical or embodied, and only later something constituted as a legal body. That legal sense is what the adjective still carries when it refers to a company. The word reached English by way of Middle English "corporat(e)," which could mean "corporeal" or "incorporated," depending on context. The adjective is first attested in 1429. In the same tradition, Middle English "corporaten" was a verb meaning to incorporate or to constitute as a legal corporation, first attested in 1398, so the family of words was taking shape in English well before modern business life. The sense of "belonging to or representing a collective group" grows naturally from the legal idea. A corporation is a body that acts as one, so anything corporate, from a shared decision to a shared identity, is understood as belonging to that unified whole rather than to one individual.

Synonyms: business, commercial

Antonyms: individual, personal