corpus

noun

cor·​pus ˈkȯr-pəs 

plural corpora ˈkȯr-p(ə-)rə 

1

: the body of a human or animal especially when dead

2

a

: the main part or body of a bodily structure or organ

the corpus of the uterus

b

: the main body or corporeal substance of a thing

specifically : the principal of a fund or estate as distinct from income or interest

3

a

: all the writings or works of a particular kind or on a particular subject

especially : the complete works of an author

b

: a collection or body of knowledge or evidence

especially : a collection of recorded utterances used as a basis for the descriptive analysis of a language

Synonyms

• oeuvre

Examples of corpus in a Sentence

a computerized corpus of English

Jane Austen's corpus is modest in number but magnificent in achievement.

Recent Examples on the Web

The exhibition lays claim to the body as the superintending conceit of Warhol’s corpus—an argument often strained by inclusions here of the Hammer & Sickle (1976) works or allusions to the film Sleep (1964). —Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 4 Oct. 2024

The size and breadth of these corpora feed into the ability of foundation models to serve multiple downstream tasks. —Jenna Wiens, STAT, 25 Aug. 2023

Solar-Lezama says the issue may be that all large language models are trained on similar corpora of text data, much of it downloaded from the same websites. —WIRED, 1 Aug. 2023

These works, which have never been reprinted or translated, have since been excised from the Kundera corpus, and none of them appear in his official bibliography. —Jared Marcel Pollen, The New Republic, 12 July 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Latin, "body, entity, group of people, collection, compendium" — more at midriff

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing corpus

• corpus allatum
• corpus callosum
• corpus cardiacum
• corpus delicti
• corpus luteum
• corpus striatum
• habeas corpus
• habeas corpus ad subjiciendum
• writ of habeas corpus

Medical Definition

corpus

noun

cor·​pus ˈkȯr-pəs 

plural corpora -p(ə-)rə 

1

: the human or animal body especially when dead

2

: the main part or body of a bodily structure or organ

the corpus of the jaw

see corpus uteri

Legal Definition

corpus

noun

cor·​pus ˈkȯr-pəs, -ˌpu̇s 

plural corpora -pə-rə 

: the main body of a thing

specifically : the principal of a fund, trust, or estate as distinct from income or interest : res