(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
The ~ of an organization or system is the act of creating it or beginning it. (FORMAL)
His ideas influenced the ~ of National Portrait Galleries in London and Edinburgh.
= creation
N-SING: usu N of n
2.
An ~ is a shop, business, or organization occupying a particular building or place. (FORMAL)
...a scientific research ~.
...shops and other commercial ~s.
N-COUNT: usu with supp
3.
You refer to the people who have power and influence in the running of a country, society, or organization as the ~.
Shopkeepers would once have been pillars of the Tory ~...
N-SING: usu the N in sing