corporate

adj.

B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //ˈkɔɹpɝət// UK //kˈɔːpəɹət// cor·po·rate

Academic Archaic General-service Informal

adj. relating to a large company or group. You use this to describe things like business rules, office culture, or the way big organizations behave.

adj. relating to a large company or group, or to a corporation as a single legal entity. Often used to distinguish business-level activities from individual or public-sector ones.

SIMPLE

She wears corporate clothing to the office every day.

CONTEXTUAL

The new CEO promised to change the corporate culture to make the workplace more inclusive for everyone.

COMPLEX

While the startup began with a loose structure, it eventually adopted a more rigid corporate hierarchy to manage its expanding global operations and satisfy its board of directors.

Synonyms

Etymology 1

The adjective is first attested in 1429, the noun in 1849; from Middle English corporat(e) (“(if a true adjective) corporeal, physical, embodied; (participle/participial adjective) incorporated; corporated, constituted as a legal corporation”, used as the past participle of corporaten), from Latin corporātus, perfect passive participle of corporō (“to make into a body”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from corpus (“body”, oblique stem in corp-) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). The noun was derived by substantivization from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Etymology 2

First attested in 1398; from Middle English corporaten (“to incorporate, assimilate; to constitute as a legal corporation”), either from corporat(e) (“(if a true adjective) corporeal, physical”, also used as the past participle of corporaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix) or directly from Latin corporātus + -en, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Usage

Typically precedes the noun it modifies. Frequently used in collocations such as 'corporate responsibility', 'corporate identity', and 'corporate ladder'.

Idioms2 entries