different between society vs corporation

English

Alternative forms

• soc. (abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French societé , from Latin societ?s, societ?tem (“fellowship, association, alliance, union, community”), from socius (“associated, allied; partner, companion, ally”), from Proto-Indo-European *sok?-yo- (“companion”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek?- (“to follow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??sa?.?.ti/

Noun

society (countable and uncountable, plural societies)

1. (countable) A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.
2. (countable) A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.

   • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

3. (countable) The sum total of all voluntary interrelations between individuals.
4. (uncountable) The people of one’s country or community taken as a whole.
5. (uncountable) High society.
6. (countable, law) A number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• "society" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 291.

English

Etymology

From Late Latin corporatio (“assumption of a body”), from Latin corporatus, past participle of corporare (“to form into a body”); see corporate.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e???n
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??p???e???n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??p???e???n/

Noun

corporation (plural corporations)

1. A body corporate, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.
2. The municipal governing body of a borough or city.
3. (historical) In Fascist Italy, a joint association of employers' and workers' representatives.
4. (slang, dated, humorous) A protruding belly (perhaps a play on the word corpulence).

   Synonym: paunch

   • 1918, Katherine Mansfield, ‘Prelude’, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, page 91:

     'You'd be surprised,' said Stanley, as though this were intensely interesting, 'at the number of chaps at the club who have got a corporation.'

   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, p. 316:

     He was a big chap with a corporation already, and a flat face rather like Dora's, and he had a thin black moustache.

   • 2001, Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, London: Scribner, Part 2, Chapter 20, p. 620,^[2]

     The sergeant was a goner. There was only one way to save him, and he threw himself on top, hurling the man to the ground. He lay covering his corporation with as much as his body and limbs would allow.

Derived terms

• British Broadcasting Corporation
• corporation tax

Hyponyms

• (body corporate): public limited company (UK)

Related terms

• corporate
• incorporate

Translations

Further reading

• corporation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• corporation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

Noun

corporation f (plural corporations)

1. corporation
2. guild