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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

capacity.

The ability to hold, receive, or absorb.

8 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kəˈpæsɪti/Received-Pronunciation/kəˈpasɪtɪj/British, Southern, Standard/kəˈpasɪte/Scotland/-tɪ/Scotland

  1. The ability to hold, receive, or absorb.

    countable · uncountable

  2. A measure of such ability; volume.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A measure of such ability; volume. The maximum amount that can be held.

    countable · uncountable
    It was hauling a capacity load.
    The orchestra played to a capacity crowd.

  4. Capability; the ability to perform some task.

    countable · uncountable

  5. The maximum that can be produced.

    countable · uncountable

  6. The maximum that can be produced. The maximum that can be produced on a machine or in a facility or group.

    countable · uncountable
    Its capacity rating was 150 tons per hour, but its actual maximum capacity was 200 tons per hour.

  7. The potential for growth and development.

    countable · uncountable

  8. The potential for growth and development. Mental ability; the power to learn.

    countable · uncountable

  9. A role; the position in which one functions.

    countable · uncountable
    in my capacity as team captain

  10. A role; the position in which one functions. Legal authority (to make an arrest for example).

    countable · uncountable

  11. Electrical capacitance.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Archaic Latin kapiō Latin capiō Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ks Proto-Italic *-āks Latin -āx Latin capāx Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin capācitāsder. Old French capacitebor. Middle English capacite English capacity From Middle English capacite, from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās (whence -acity), from capāx (“able to hold much”), from capiō (“to hold, to contain, to take, to understand”).

adj/kəˈpæsɪti/Received-Pronunciation/kəˈpasɪtɪj/British, Southern, Standard/kəˈpasɪte/Scotland/-tɪ/Scotland

  1. Filling the allotted space.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Archaic Latin kapiō Latin capiō Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ks Proto-Italic *-āks Latin -āx Latin capāx Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin capācitāsder. Old French capacitebor. Middle English capacite English capacity From Middle English capacite, from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās (whence -acity), from capāx (“able to hold much”), from capiō (“to hold, to contain, to take, to understand”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.