legal capacity
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Your relative may lack capacity to make certain decisions, yet retain enough legal capacity to, say, revoke a power of attorney or hire a lawyer.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 24, 2026
The person must also have the the legal capacity to make the decision, and have the decision verified by two independent doctors.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2025
Parliament passed a temporary measure allowing prisons to fill beyond legal capacity.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 5, 2023
The lockup has held an average of 2,199 detainees each month over the last year, roughly 240 people fewer than the facility’s legal capacity, county officials said.
From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2021
When the Birmingham jails filled up beyond legal capacity, the school buses delivered the arrested children to the Birmingham fairgrounds—the grounds where Kiddieland was located.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
