Word
INC
Phoneticsinc
/ˈɪŋk/
Definitions
01a legal business type
adj. Stands for Incorporated. You see this after a company name to show it is a legal corporation.
adj. Abbreviation for Incorporated. Used as a postpositive adjective to indicate that a business is a legal corporation, particularly in American and Canadian English.
“The official name of the tech giant is Apple Inc.”
“After the merger was finalized, the new entity began trading under the name Global Logistics Inc. to reflect its new corporate status.”
American English · Formal
Usage
Always capitalized and placed after the company name, often preceded by a comma.
Teaching tip
Learners should note that 'Inc.' is the standard American abbreviation, whereas 'Ltd.' is more common in British English.
Synonyms
02arriving or coming in
adj. Stands for incoming. People use this in emails or online to talk about things arriving.
adj. Abbreviation for incoming. Frequently used in digital communication, logistics, or telecommunications to denote arriving data or goods.
“Check the inc folder for the new project files.”
“The system administrator monitored the inc traffic to identify the source of the unexpected server load.”
Informal · Technical
Usage
Commonly used in file naming or technical logs.
Teaching tip
This is highly specialized; outside of tech or gaming, 'incoming' should be written in full.
03to add one
v. Stands for increment. In computer programming, it means to increase a number by a specific amount, usually one.
v. Abbreviation for increment. Used as a functional command or shorthand in programming to increase a variable's value.
“You need to inc the counter every time a user clicks the button.”
“The script was designed to inc the index variable by one during each iteration of the loop.”
Technical
Usage
Used as a verb in technical jargon or as a command in assembly languages.
Teaching tip
This is almost exclusively used by software developers; 'increase' is the correct word for general contexts.
Antonyms