capacity
English
Etymology
From Middle English capacite, from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās, from capax (“able to hold much”), from capiō (“to hold, to contain, to take, to understand”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kəˈpæsɪti/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
capacity (countable and uncountable, plural capacities)
- The ability to hold, receive or absorb
- A measure of such ability; volume
- The maximum amount that can be held
- It was hauling a capacity load.
- The orchestra played to a capacity crowd.
- Capability; the ability to perform some task
- The maximum that can be produced.
- Mental ability; the power to learn
- A faculty; the potential for growth and development
- A role; the position in which one functions
- Legal authority (to make an arrest for example)
- Electrical capacitance.
- (operations) The maximum that can be produced on a machine or in a facility or group.
- Its capacity rating was 150 tons per hour, but its actual maximum capacity was 200 tons per hour.
Synonyms
- throughput
- See also Thesaurus:skill
Derived terms
Translations
the ability to hold, receive or absorb
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capability; the ability to perform some task
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the maximum that can be produced
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the position in which one functions
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electrical capacitance
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legal authority
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Adjective
capacity
- Filling the allotted space.
- There will be a capacity crowd at Busch stadium for the sixth game.
- 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal
- At an overcast Eton Dorney, roared on by a capacity crowd including Prince Harry and Prince William, the volume rose as they entered the final stages.
Related terms
Further reading
- capacity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- capacity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- capacity at OneLook Dictionary Search
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