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entity

 
Dictionary: en·ti·ty   (ĕn'tĭ-tē) pronunciation
n., pl., -ties.
  1. Something that exists as a particular and discrete unit: Persons and corporations are equivalent entities under the law.
  2. The fact of existence; being.
  3. The existence of something considered apart from its properties.

[Medieval Latin entitās, from Latin ēns, ent-, present participle of esse, to be.]


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In a database, anything about which information can be stored; for example, a person, concept, physical object or event. Typically refers to a record structure.

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Legal form under which property is owned. The benefits and risks of owning a business or property may vary depending on the entity that is formed. Options include a Corporation or S Corporation, Sole Proprietorship Corporation, a Joint Venture, a Limited Partnership, a Partnership, tenancy in common, joint tenancy, and a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

The legal form under which property is owned. See also Corporation, Limited Partnership, Partnership.
Examples: The benefits and risks of owning real property may vary depending on the entity that is formed. Among the options are:

• corporation

• individual ownership (see Tenancy entries)

• Joint Venture

• Limited Partnership

• Partnership

• Real Estate Investment Trust

Thesaurus: entity
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noun

  1. One that exists independently: being, existence, existent, individual, object, something, thing. See be, thing.
  2. An organized array of individual elements and parts forming and working as a unit: integral, sum, system, totality, whole. See part/whole.
  3. The fact or state of existing or of being actual: actuality, being, existence, reality. See be, real/imaginary.

Antonyms: entity
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n

Definition: object which exists
Antonyms: abstract, concept, idea


In Geographic Information Systems, a thing that exists such as a building or a lake, which is distinguishable from another entity, cannot be divided into two or more similar entities, and about which information can be stored, possibly in terms of attributes, position, shape, and relationships. An entity class is a specified group of entities.

A real thing. Entity realism is the term associated with the contemporary Canadian philosopher Ian Hacking, whereby the issue of scientific realism is not one of the truth or falsity of scientific theories, but of the real existence of the things which scientists manipulate.

Law Encyclopedia: Entity
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A real being; existence. An organization or being that possesses separate existence for tax purposes. Examples would be corporations, partnerships, estates, and trusts. The accounting entity for which accounting statements are prepared may not be the same as the entity defined by law.

Entity includes corporation and foreign corporation; not-for-profit corporation; profit and not-for-profit unincorporated association; business trust, estate, partnership, trust, and two or more persons having a joint or common economic interest; and state, U.S., and foreign governments.

An existence apart, such as a corporation in relation to its stockholders.

Entity includes person, estate, trust, governmental unit.

Word Tutor: entity
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A separate independent thing.

pronunciation Soil is a resource, a living, breathing entity that, if treated properly, will maintain itself. It's our lifeline for survival. — Marjorie Harris.

Wikipedia: Entity
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An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate. Entities are used in system developmental models that display communications and internal processing of, say, documents compared to order processing.

An entity could be viewed as a set containing subsets. In philosophy, such sets are said to be abstract objects.

Sometimes, the word entity is used in a general sense of a being, whether or not the referent has material existence; e.g., is often referred to as an entity with no corporeal form, such as a language. It is also often used to refer to ghosts and other spirits. Taken further, entity sometimes refers to existence or being itself. For example, the former U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan once said that "the policy of the government of the United States is to seek . . . to preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity."

The word entitative is the adjective form of the noun entity. Something that is entitative is "considered as pure entity; abstracted from all circumstances", that is, regarded as entity alone, apart from attendant circumstances.

Specialized uses

See also


Translations: Entity
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - fænomen, eksistens, entitet, væsen

Nederlands (Dutch)
entiteit, het bestaan, iets wat bestaat

Français (French)
n. - entité

Deutsch (German)
n. - Entität, Wesen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - οντότητα, ύπαρξη, υπόσταση, (νομ.) νομικό πρόσωπο, φορέας

Italiano (Italian)
entità

Português (Portuguese)
n. - entidade (f)

Русский (Russian)
существо, единое целое, организация

Español (Spanish)
n. - entidad

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - självständigt hel, enhet, väsen, verklighet

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
实体, 本质, 存在

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 實體, 本質, 存在

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 실체, 자주 독립체

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 実在物, 実体, 実在, 存在物, 存在者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كينونه, وجود‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מציאות, ישות‬


Best of the Web: entity
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Some good "entity" pages on the web:


Math
mathworld.wolfram.com
 
 
 
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something
Position (in accounting)
Party (business term)

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