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EC

EC

28 5.8
A group of European countries that work together to remove trade barriers and make common rules
  • noun
translation icon : Comunidad Europea
  • The EC was established to enhance economic cooperation among member states in Europe.
  • EC membership
  • EC trade
  • EC single market

Examples

  • Low and declining birth rates, prevalent in the EC, have also aggravated the labor shortage.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The answer for the EC was to look at a unified market with a social dimension.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The idea is to make European producers more competitive in EC markets and in global markets.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Most will become binding EC laws, and the rest will become recommendations and policy statements.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Others have spoken of giving the EC, presumably through its Commission, a membership seat in NATO.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Full mobility of skilled workers and their families across internal EC borders will become a reality in 1993.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Fourth, the EC has proposed EC-wide minimum reference points on work week, hours, overtime, holidays, and weekends.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Compared to North America and Japan, the EC was also behind in the specialization of high-tech products.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Meanwhile, German quotas for cod and several other important species in EC waters have also been reduced.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Training has become the chief means of restructuring human resources in the EC as the unified market evolves.

    Academic text (1990)

Synonyms

19 3.7

Countries in Europe that worked together after World War II to make trade and laws easier

is the short abbreviation used instead of the full formal name
EEC
vsEC
1 5.2

A group of European countries that worked to reduce trade barriers

is the abbreviation for the later, broader organization

An organization of European countries set up in 1957 that later became the European Union

is broader and not limited to only economic integration

Compounds

home ec
  • Informal
4 5.1

A school class that teaches cooking, sewing, and home skills

Surface Forms

EC singular
ECs plural

Morphology

EC = E + C

This is an alphabetic acronym; the letters 'E' and 'C' do not transparently convey the meaning 'European Community' unless the learner already knows the expansion, so morphological analysis is not predictive of meaning.

Etymology

EC stands for European Community, a group of European countries set up after World War II to 'work together' and make trade easier, and it was later folded into the European Union, so EC refers to that early organisation and its work on cooperation and trade.