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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

shell company en · NOUN

Meanings

  1. A company that engages in no substantive business activities, but instead exists as a vehicle for legal or financial transactions, typically to shield another party from liability or other issues.
    • It was a shell company and, the SEC alleges, never had researchers, research plans or any scientific resources. 2003 November 15, Tony Levene, “Capital letters”, in The Guardian:
    • This luxury-loving and profligate shell company is registered at a betting shop on the Caledonian Road, an unlovely thoroughfare in North London on which you'd be more likely to find amphetamines than a top-notch lawyer. 2018, Oliver Bullough, chapter 2, in Moneyland, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 19:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
shell companies Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

shell game · ghost company

Synonyms

letterbox company · front company · shell corporation · mailbox company

Translations (19)

sv skalbolag (company without activity created for tax purposes) · id perusahaan cangkang (company without activity created for tax purposes) · nl brievenbusmaatschappij (company without activity created for tax purposes) · fr société écran (company without activity created for tax purposes) · nb postkasseselskap (company without activity created for tax purposes) · da skuffeselskab (company without activity created for tax purposes) · de Briefkastenfirma (company without activity created for tax purposes) · nl brievenbusfirma (company without activity created for tax purposes) · ja ペーパーカンパニー (company without activity created for tax purposes) · de Briefkastengesellschaft (company without activity created for tax purposes) · es corporación pantalla (company without activity created for tax purposes) · fi peiteyhtiö (company without activity created for tax purposes) · pt empresa-fantasma (company without activity created for tax purposes) · es compañía fachada (company without activity created for tax purposes) · fi peitefirma (company without activity created for tax purposes) · fi peiteyritys (company without activity created for tax purposes) · de Domizilgesellschaft (company without activity created for tax purposes) · pl spółka-wydmuszka (company without activity created for tax purposes) · es empresa fantasma (company without activity created for tax purposes)