company
Syllables: com·pany/ˈkʌmp(ə)ni/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
dialectal/ˈkɒmp(ə)ni/
company noun: a team; a group of people who work together for a common purpose.
Noun
company (countable and uncountable, plural companies)
- A team; a group of people who work together for a common purpose.
- a company of knights
- A group of performing artists who put on shows together.
- a company of actors
- The crew of a ship.
- a ship's company
- A unit of approximately sixty to one hundred and twenty soldiers, typically consisting of two or three platoons and forming part of a battalion.
- the boys in Company C
- It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle.1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 30, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC
- A unit of firefighters and their equipment.
- It took six companies to put out the fire.
- An intelligence service.
- As he had worked for the CIA for over 30 years, he would soon take retirement from the company.
- A specific aircraft or its airline, usually used in air traffic communications to refer conveniently to another aircraft operated by the same airline.
- A small group of birds or animals.
- An entity having legal personality, and thus able to own property and to sue and be sued in its own name; a corporation.
- a financial services company
- “[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh.[…]If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes; love of the people, and that sort of guff.”1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
- Synonyms:
- business, enterprise, firm
- Any business, whether incorporated or not, that manufactures or sells products (also known as goods), or provides services as a commercial venture.
- Marconi set up the company who made the first radios.
- In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19
- The members of a partnership business who are not listed in the company's name; unnamed individuals in an entourage or other group.
- Smith, Capitano and Company
- Here come Will, Martin and company.
- Companionship.
- I treasure your company.
- He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2
- One or more social visitor(s) or companion(s).
- Keep the house clean; I have company coming.
- Come, O thou Traveller unknown, / Whom still I hold, but cannot see! / My company before is gone, / And I am left alone with Thee; / With Thee all night I mean to stay, / And wrestle till the break of day.1742, “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”, Charles Wesley (music)
- One or more other person(s) who are nearby, are approaching, or are (e.g. covertly) watching, especially if they may have hostile intentions (like adversaries or rivals).
- Get your guns ready: intel said there'd be no hostiles in the area, but it looks like we've got company.
- I thought we'd be the only ones exploring this abandoned tunnel system today, but judging by that light up ahead, it looks like we've got company. I wonder if it's anyone we know.
Verb
company (third-person singular simple present companies, present participle companying, simple past and past participle companied)
- To accompany, keep company with.
- Ye dooe knowe howe thatt hytt ys an vnlawefull thynge for a man beynge a iewe to company or come vnto an alient […].1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts x:[28], folio clxix, recto
- it was with a distinctly fallen countenance that his father hearkened to his mother's parenthetical request to “’bide hyar an’ company leetle Moses whilst I be a-milkin’ the cow.”1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 2
- To associate.
- Men which have companied with us all the time.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 1:21
- To be a lively, cheerful companion.
- If thee list unto the Court to throng
[…]there thou needs must learne, to laugh, to lie,
To face, to forge, to scoffe, to companie.1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
- If thee list unto the Court to throng
- To have sexual intercourse.
- companying with Infidels may not be simply condemneda. 1656, Joseph Hall, Epistle to Mr. I. F.
- Synonyms:
- fornicate
company meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
company in Hindi
- in legal context, a corporation
- समवाय samvāy, कंपनी kampnī
- companionship
- सान्निध्य sānnidhya
company in Tamil
- in legal context, a corporation
- நிறுவனம் niṟuvaṉam
company in Marathi
- in legal context, a corporation
- कंपनी kampnī
company in Urdu
- in legal context, a corporation
- کَمْپَنی kampanī, شِرْکَت śirkat
More languagesFewer languages
- company in Bengali
- কম্পনী komponi
- company in Telugu
- కంపెనీ kampenī
- company in Malayalam
- സംഘം saṅghaṁ, കമ്പനി kampani
- company in Kannada
- ಕಂಪನಿ kampani, ಸಂಘ saṅgha
- company in Punjabi
- ਕੰਪਨੀ kampnī, ਸੰਗ saṅg
- company in Gujarati
- કંપની kampnī, આસ્થાપન āsthāpan
- company in Sanskrit
- पटल paṭala
- company in Sinhala
- කොම්පැනිය kompæniya
- company in Assamese
- কোম্পানী kümpani
- company in Nepali
- कम्पनी kampanī
- company in Pashto
- شرکت šerkat
- company in Tagalog
- kompanya
- company in Arabic
- شَرِكَة šarika, رِفْقَة rifqa, سَرِيَّة sariyya
- company in Malay
- syarikat, kompeni, kongsi, teman
- company in Indonesian
- perusahaan, firma, syarikat, besuk
- company in Thai
- บริษัท bɔɔ-rí-sàt, ธุรกิจ tú-rá-gìt, กงสี gong-sǐi, กองร้อย gɔɔng-rɔ́ɔi
- company in Vietnamese
- công ty, xí nghiệp, đại đội
- company in Myanmar
- ကုမ္ပဏီ kumpa.ni
Examples of company in a sentence
- The company added it has not “received any reports of adverse events,” but it’s moving forward with the recall out of “an abundance of caution.”2021 November 26, Jackie Wattles, “Some Old Spice and Secret deodorants recalled after cancer-causing chemical is detected”, in CNN...
- So I go into the darkness of the night / All alone I walk the streets until I find / Someone who is just like me / Looking for some company1972, The Stylistics, “Children of The Night”, in Round 2:
- Love and the driver favoured the company with a brief chanty running.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
Synonyms of company
7 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of company
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | companies |
| alternative form (obsolete) | companie |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | companies |
| present participle | companying |
| past participle | companied |
| past | companied |
Origin of company
From Middle English companye (“a team; companionship”), from Old French compaignie (“companionship”) (Modern French: compagnie), possibly from Late Latin *compania, but this word is not attested. Old French compaignie is equivalent to Old French compaignon (Modern French: compagnon) + -ie. More at companion. Displaced native Old English werod, gefer, getæl, and hired.
Words formed from company
- a man is known by the company he keeps
- and company
- bad company
- biocompany
- blank check company
- bubble company
- community interest company
- companization
- company car
- company clinic
- company doctor
- company front
- company law
- company man
- company officer
- company register
- company seal
- company sergeant major
- company-specific
- company store
- company time
- company town
- company union
- companywide
- compliance company
- daughter company
- fish and company stink after three days
- freight operating company
- ghost company
- in-company
- in company with
- intercompany
- intracompany
- keep company
- keep someone company
- letterbox company
- limited company
- mailbox company
- megacompany
- merry company
- misery enjoys company
- misery loves company
- multicompany
- noncompany
- oil company
- part company
- present company excepted
- private limited liability company
- public limited company
- public limited liability company
- record company
- shell company
- shipping company
- subcompany
- supercompany
- telco
- the company
- touring company
- two's company and three is none
- two's company, three's a crowd
Phrases with company
- company men
- company cars
- fast company
- fire company
- John Company
- kept company
- road company
- company seals
- company towns
- front company
- keeps company
- mixed company
45 more phrasesFewer phrases
- parts company
- stock company
- title company
- company fronts
- company stores
- company unions
- listed company
- livery company
- parent company
- parted company
- ship's company
- sister company
- zombie company
- company clinics
- holding company
- keeping company
- parting company
- Company of Jesus
- European Company
- umbrella company
- insurance company
- unlimited company
- East India Company
- investment company
- joint-stock company
- incorporated company
- kept someone company
- keeps someone company
- company sergeant majors
- company sergeants major
- keeping someone company
- train operating company
- present company excluded
- limited liability company
- British East India Company
- British South Africa Company
- digital asset treasury company
- digital-asset treasury company
- don't fish off the company dock
- don't dip your pen in company ink
- you don't fish off the company pier
- you don't dip your pen in company ink
- you don't dip your pen in the company inkwell
- who keeps company with wolves, will learn to howl
- who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl
Questions about company
- What does company mean?
- Company means a team; a group of people who work together for a common purpose.
- What is company in Hindi?
- Company in Hindi is समवाय (samvāy), कंपनी (kampnī), सान्निध्य (sānnidhya). See Company meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use company in a sentence?
- The company added it has not “received any reports of adverse events,” but it’s moving forward with the recall out of “an abundance of caution.”
- What part of speech is company?
- Company can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce company?
- Company is pronounced /ˈkʌmp(ə)ni/ (UK).
- What is the plural of company?
- The plural of company is companies.
Words near company in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: company (page history and authors); কোম্পানী (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-company.ogg, en-us-company.ogg.
Cite this entry: “company.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/company. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.