# corpus

/ˈkɔɹpəs/ (US) · /kˈɔːpəs/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/corpus
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 2. body of work

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic · Formal

the complete collection of writings or works by a specific person or on a specific subject.

For teachers: the entire body of writings or creative works by a particular author or concerning a specific topic.

- The professor spent years studying the entire corpus of Shakespeare's plays.
- Scholars continue to debate the authenticity of several minor poems within the author's surviving corpus.

### 3. anatomical structure

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

the main part of an organ or a specific structure in the body of a human or animal.

For teachers: the main body or principal part of an anatomical structure or organ.

- The doctor explained that the corpus of the stomach is its largest part.
- The surgical procedure required precise navigation around the corpus callosum to avoid damaging the neural pathways connecting the hemispheres.

### 4. Corpus Christi

noun · CEFR B2 · American English · Informal

a short name for the city of Corpus Christi in Texas.

For teachers: a colloquial toponymic reference to the city of Corpus Christi, Texas.

- We are planning to drive down to Corpus for the weekend to visit the beach.
- Local residents often refer to the city simply as Corpus when discussing regional travel or weather patterns.

## Examples

- The researcher searched the corpus for examples of the word.
- By analyzing a massive corpus of emails, the linguists identified how professional greetings have changed over the last decade.
- The development of a representative corpus is essential for training natural language processing models that can accurately reflect the nuances of contemporary dialectal variations.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.