capitalize

American  

[kap-i-tl-ahyz] / ˈkæp ɪ tlˌaɪz /

especially British, capitalise

verb (used with object)

capitalized, capitalizing

1. to write or print in capital letters letters or with an initial capital letter.

2. to authorize a certain amount of stocks and bonds in the corporate charter of.

   to capitalize a corporation.

3. to issue stock as a dividend, thereby capitalizing retained earnings, or as settlement of an unpaid arrearage of preferred dividends.

4. Accounting. to set up (expenditures) as business assets in the books of account instead of treating as expense.

5. to supply with capital.

6. to estimate the value of (a stock or an enterprise).

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verb (used without object)

capitalized, capitalizing

1. to take advantage of; turn something to one's advantage (often followed byon ).

   to capitalize on one's opportunities.

   Synonyms:

   utilize, exploit

capitalize British  

/ ˈkæpɪtəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to take advantage (of); profit (by)

2. to write or print (text) in capital letters or with the first letter of (a word or words) in capital letters

3. to convert (debt or retained earnings) into capital stock

4. to authorize (a business enterprise) to issue a specified amount of capital stock

5. to provide with capital

6. accounting to treat (expenditures) as assets

7. 1. to estimate the present value of (a periodical income)

   2. to compute the present value of (a business) from actual or potential earnings

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Usage

What does capitalize mean? To capitalize a word is to make its first letter a capital letter—an uppercase letter. For example, to capitalize the word polish (which is here spelled with a lowercase p), you would write it as Polish. A word whose first letter is a capital can be described as capitalized. The state of being capitalized (or the process of capitalizing) is called capitalization, as in Please check your paper for proper punctuation and capitalization.  In English, words are capitalized for a few different reasons. It is considered a standard rule of English to capitalize proper nouns (which are nouns that refer to specific people, places, or things—meaning one’s that have specific names), such as Jess, Mexico, and Nintendo. Capitalizing a word can change the way the reader interprets its meaning, as in the case of polish (a verb meaning to make something shinier) and Polish (an adjective describing someone from Poland) or apple (the fruit) and Apple (the company). We also capitalize the first word in a sentence. Sometimes, we capitalize the first letter of each word in a title, as in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Example: A lot of people don’t bother to capitalize words when sending text messages. Capitalize also has several other meanings. To capitalize on something means to take advantage of it. You can capitalize on an opportunity or a situation by doing something to benefit from it in some way. Example: The company is capitalizing on the publicity by releasing new merchandise. In the context of finance, capitalize is used in more specific and technical ways. The most straightforward sense of the word in this context means to supply with capital (money). Example: Most startups are capitalized by friends and family members before they’re able to secure significant funding.

Other Word Forms

• capitalizable adjective
• capitalizer noun
• noncapitalized adjective
• uncapitalized adjective

Etymology

Origin of capitalize

An Americanism dating back to 1755–65; capital ¹ + -ize

Explanation

To capitalize is to put something in capital letters, particularly the first letters, Like This. To capitalize also means to take advantage of a situation. The first word of every sentence is capitalized, and to capitalize is to write in capital (or upper-case) letters. To capitalize also means to take advantage of an opportunity. Graduates try to capitalize on their degrees by getting well-paying jobs. A football team tries to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes, such as making a touchdown after an interception. It might help you to remember that capitalizing is a good thing if you know capital is also another word for money.

Example Sentences

Few, if any, miss the chance to capitalize the genus in their reply.

From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026

“Many of them have been able to capitalize on the stock- and housing-market gains of recent years, and as a group, they appear to be in a relatively good place, financially speaking,” Kent said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

But the famous SI name still resonates with generations of consumers and Authentic has sought ways to capitalize on it, from selling replica covers to opening branded resort hotels in Chicago and Nashville.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2026

But Palantir was only able to capitalize on the AI opportunity after over a decade of honing its FDE strategy.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

“The b is capitalized. You wouldn’t usually capitalize the first letter of a color.”

From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

Related Words

• exploit
• take advantage of