capitalization

American  

[kap-i-tl-uh-zey-shuhn] / ˌkæp ɪ tl əˈzeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of capitalizing.

2. the authorized or outstanding stocks and bonds of a corporation.

3. Accounting.

   1. the total investment of the owner or owners in a business enterprise.

   2. the total corporate liability.

   3. the total arrived at after addition of liabilities.

4. conversion into stocks or bonds.

5. the act of computing the present value of future periodical payments.

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capitalization British  

/ ˌkæpɪtəlaɪˈzeɪʃən /

noun

1. 1. the act of capitalizing

   2. the sum so derived

2. accounting the par value of the total share capital issued by a company, including the loan capital and sometimes reserves

3. the act of estimating the present value of future payments, earnings, etc

4. the act of writing or printing in capital letters

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Usage

What does capitalization mean? Capitalization is the act of using capital letters.A capital letter (A, B, C, etc.) is a letter of the alphabet that is bigger than the lower case version (e.g., c, o, s) and sometimes styled differently as well (e.g., a, b, q). In English, we use capital letters for several reasons.The most common reasons we use capitalization in English are to begin a sentence and to indicate a proper noun.We capitalize the first letter of the first word of a sentence to show that this is the beginning of the sentence, as in Who took my wallet?This includes complete sentences that are used in quotations, as in Mom said, “We are going to the mall.”We also use capitalization for proper nouns, that is a particular person, place, or thing, like James, New York, or the Library of Congress.Sometimes, though, companies name themselves or their products without any capitalization or with capitalization in the middle of the word (sometimes called camel case), as in adidas, eBay, and WikiAnswers.The pronoun I is always capitalized, no matter where it is used in a sentence, as in He went to the park, but I stayed home.

Etymology

Origin of capitalization

First recorded in 1855–60; capitalize + -ation

Example Sentences

In the past year, one of the world’s most valuable companies has nearly doubled in value, and Google’s parent Alphabet just became the latest tech giant to reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion.

From The Wall Street Journal

Technology, financial, and metals mining sectors show numerous stocks up 50% or more in the past year, contributing over $4 trillion to market capitalization.

From Barron's

The index and the sectors are weighted by market capitalization.

From MarketWatch

RPM, with a market capitalization of about $14.4 billion, makes coatings, sealants and building materials, such as Plastic Wood, Rust-Oleum and Zinsser.

From The Wall Street Journal

The index estimates are weighted by the companies’ market capitalization.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• funding