CAPACITY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Capacity

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/kəpˈæsəti/ /kəpˈæsɪti/ Listen

noun

Capacity n. (pl. capacities)

1.

The power of receiving or containing; extent of room or space; passive power; used in reference to physical things. "Had our great palace the capacity To camp this host, we all would sup together." "The capacity of the exhausted cylinder."

2.

The power of receiving and holding ideas, knowledge, etc.; the comprehensiveness of the mind; the receptive faculty; capability of understanding or feeling. "Capacity is now properly limited to these (the mere passive operations of the mind); its primary signification, which is literally room for, as well as its employment, favors this; although it can not be denied that there are examples of its usage in an active sense."

3.

Ability; power pertaining to, or resulting from, the possession of strength, wealth, or talent; possibility of being or of doing. "The capacity of blessing the people." "A cause with such capacities endued."

4.

Outward condition or circumstances; occupation; profession; character; position; as, to work in the capacity of a mason or a carpenter.

5.

(Law) Legal or moral qualification, as of age, residence, character, etc., necessary for certain purposes, as for holding office, for marrying, for making contracts, wills, etc.; legal power or right; competency.

Capacity for heat, the power of absorbing heat. Substances differ in the amount of heat requisite to raise them a given number of thermometric degrees, and this difference is the measure of, or depends upon, what is called their capacity for heat. See Specific heat, under Heat.

Synonyms: Ability; faculty; talent; capability; skill; efficiency; cleverness. See Ability.

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Etymology of 'Capacity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Capacity" Quotes from Famous Books

... those men who have an inherited capacity for enjoying Christmas. He lent it his attention with zest, choosing the turkey himself with critical care as he went through the big market in town, from whence he brought also wreaths and branches of holly that seemed to have larger and redder berries than could be ...

— The Blossoming Rod • Mary Stewart Cutting

... which might involve results of such vast importance should be entrusted to the leadership of a person of such obscure position and limited capital. He also doubted if Vizcaino had the resolution and capacity necessary for so great an undertaking, and it appeared to him that if disorders should arise among his men through lack of discipline, or if the natives of the country to which he was going should repel him, the repute and royal authority of the king would be in danger. On the other hand, there ...

— The March of Portola - and, The Log of the San Carlos and Original Documents - Translated and Annotated • Zoeth S. Eldredge and E. J. Molera

... already ordered the cook to provide supper, which he hoped he would excuse. When supper was over, and the glass had gone briskly about, Mr. Quin told him, "It was now time to enter upon business." Thomson declared he was ready to serve him as far as his capacity would reach, in anything he should command, (thinking he was come about some affair relating to the drama). "Sir," says Quin, "you mistake me. I am in your debt. I owe you a hundred pounds, and I am come to pay you." Thomson, with a disconsolate ...

— The Book of Three Hundred Anecdotes - Historical, Literary, and Humorous--A New Selection • Various

... been too easy-going, self-indulgent, and ostentatious, to have made the most of the talents that he unquestionably had. Among his foibles was a certain fondness for the pageantry of war, and he was in all his glory as an officer of the local militia. To his son Gustav he transmitted real military capacity, which led to a distinguished career and a patent of nobility in the Austrian service. Harry Heine inherited his father's more amiable but less strenuous qualities. Inquisitive and alert, he was rather ...

— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VI. • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

... last voyage, moreover, had probably not tended to dispel any distrust, which the king previously entertained of the admiral's capacity for government. His men had been in a state of perpetual insubordination; while his letter to the sovereigns, written under distressing circumstances, indeed, from Jamaica, exhibited such a deep coloring of despondency, ...

— The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V3 • William H. Prescott

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