What is "corporate bond"

n. a bond issued by a corporation; carries no claim to ownership and pays no dividends but payments to bondholders have priority over payments to stockholders; "a corporate bond is a safer investment than common stock in the same company"

A corporate bond is a bond issued by a corporation in order to raise financing for a variety of reasons such as to ongoing operations, M&A, or to expand business. The term is usually applied to longer-term debt instruments, with maturity of at least one year. Corporate debt instruments with maturity shorter than one year are referred to as commercial paper.