capacity

[ kuh-pas-i-tee ]

/ kəˈpæs ɪ ti /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capacity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ca·pac·i·ties.

the ability to receive or contain: This hotel has a large capacity.

the maximum amount or number that can be received or contained; cubic contents; volume: The inn is filled to capacity. The gasoline tank has a capacity of 20 gallons.

power of receiving impressions, knowledge, etc.; mental ability: the capacity to learn calculus.

actual or potential ability to perform, yield, or withstand: He has a capacity for hard work. The capacity of the oil well was 150 barrels a day. She has the capacity to go two days without sleep.

quality or state of being susceptible to a given treatment or action: Steel has a high capacity to withstand pressure.

position; function; role: He served in the capacity of legal adviser.

legal qualification.

Electricity.

capacitance.
maximum possible output.

adjective

reaching maximum capacity: a capacity audience; a capacity crowd.

Nearby words

capacitation, capacitive, capacitive coupling, capacitive reactance, capacitor, capacity, capactin, capaneus, caparison, capataz, cape

Origin of capacity

1375–1425; late Middle English capacite < Middle French < Latin capācitāt- (stem of capācitās), equivalent to capāci-, stem of capāx roomy (cap(ere) to hold + -āci- adj. suffix) + -tāt- -ty²

SYNONYMS FOR capacity

2 dimensions, amplitude.

3 endowment, talent, gifts.

4 aptitude, adequacy, competence, capability.

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Can be confusedability capacity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for capacities

D.P.: Therapy is supposed to be about helping the person develop themselves and their own capacities.
‘LA Shrinks’ Therapist on What Shrinks Really Think|Rachel Krantz|March 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
As for Hamas or Hizbullah, being given nuclear weapons would increase their capacities as well as their autonomy.
Would It Be So Bad If Iran Got Nuclear Weapons?|Neil Padukone|February 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
On this account he overcame his slight feeling against Mr. Dare, and put a question to test that gentleman's capacities.
A Laodicean|Thomas Hardy
Does it tend to help man towards the maximum development of all his faculties and capacities?
Parallel Paths|Thomas William Rolleston

I had no need to excuse Armelline, for the princess and the cardinal had gauged her capacities.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete|Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
In addition to fixing the capacities of these standard baskets of this type, the law also prescribes their dimensions.
Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916|Various
Our capacities, our instincts for this our present sphere are but half developed.
Summer on the Lakes, in 1843|S.M. Fuller

British Dictionary definitions for capacities

capacity

/ (kəˈpæsɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the ability or power to contain, absorb, or hold

the amount that can be contained; volumea capacity of six gallons

the maximum amount something can contain or absorb (esp in the phrase filled to capacity)
(as modifier)a capacity crowd

the ability to understand or learn; aptitude; capabilityhe has a great capacity for Greek

the ability to do or produce (often in the phrase at capacity)the factory's output was not at capacity

a specified position or functionhe was employed in the capacity of manager

a measure of the electrical output of a piece of apparatus such as a motor, generator, or accumulator

electronics a former name for capacitance

computing

the number of words or characters that can be stored in a particular storage device
the range of numbers that can be processed in a register

the bit rate that a communication channel or other system can carry

legal competencethe capacity to make a will

Word Origin for capacity

C15: from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās, from capāx spacious, from capere to take

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for capacities

capacity

early 15c., from Middle French capacité "ability to hold" (15c.), from Latin capacitatem (nominative capacitas) "breadth, capacity, capability of holding much," noun of state from capax (genitive capacis) "able to hold much," from capere "to take" (see capable). Meaning "largest audience a place can hold" is 1908.

Medicine definitions for capacities

capacity

[ kə-păs′ĭ-tē ]

n.

The measure of potential cubic contents of a cavity or receptacle; volume.

Ability to perform or produce; capability.

capacity

noun, plural ca·pac·i·ties.

adjective

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Origin of capacity

Examples from the Web for capacities

British Dictionary definitions for capacities

capacity

noun plural -ties

Word Origin for capacity

Word Origin and History for capacities

capacity

Medicine definitions for capacities

capacity

n.