CAPITAL

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Capital mean? 

• CAPITAL (noun)
  The noun CAPITAL has 8 senses:

1. assets available for use in the production of further assets

2. wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value

3. a seat of government

4. one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis

5. a center that is associated more than any other with some activity or product

6. the federal government of the United States

7. a book written by Karl Marx (1867) describing his economic theories

8. the upper part of a column that supports the entablature

  Familiarity information: CAPITAL used as a noun is common.

• CAPITAL (adjective)
  The adjective CAPITAL has 3 senses:

1. first-rate

2. of primary importance

3. uppercase

  Familiarity information: CAPITAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAPITAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Assets available for use in the production of further assets

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

capital; working capital

Hypernyms ("capital" is a kind of...):

assets (anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company)

Meronyms (members of "capital"):

current assets; liquid assets; quick assets (assets in the form of cash (or easily convertible into cash))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "capital"):

stock (the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity))

risk capital; venture capital (wealth available for investment in new or speculative enterprises)

operating capital (capital available for the operations of a firm (e.g. manufacturing or transportation) as distinct from financial transactions and long-term improvements)

seed money (capital needed to set up a new business or enterprise)

Derivation:

capitalise (convert (a company's reserve funds) into capital)

capitalise (consider expenditures as capital assets rather than expenses)

capitalise (compute the present value of a business or an income)

capitalise (supply with capital, as of a business by using a combination of capital used by investors and debt capital provided by lenders)

capitalist (a person who invests capital in a business (especially a large business))

capitalize (convert (a company's reserve funds) into capital)

capitalize (compute the present value of a business or an income)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("capital" is a kind of...):

assets (anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "capital"):

endowment; endowment fund (the capital that provides income for an institution)

means; substance (considerable capital (wealth or income))

corpus; principal; principal sum (capital as contrasted with the income derived from it)

Derivation:

capitalise (compute the present value of a business or an income)

capitalist (a person who invests capital in a business (especially a large business))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A seat of government

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("capital" is a kind of...):

seat (a center of authority (as a city from which authority is exercised))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "capital"):

national capital (the capital city of a nation)

provincial capital (the capital city of a province)

state capital (the capital city of a political subdivision of a country)

Instance hyponyms:

Camelot ((Arthurian legend) the capital of King Arthur's kingdom; according to the legend, truth and goodness and beauty reigned there)

Sense 4

Meaning:

One of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

capital; capital letter; majuscule; upper-case letter; uppercase

Context example:

printers once kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper half of the type case and so became known as upper-case letters

Hypernyms ("capital" is a kind of...):

character; graph; grapheme; graphic symbol (a written symbol that is used to represent speech)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "capital"):

small cap; small capital (a character having the form of an upper-case letter but the same height as lower-case letters)

Derivation:

capital (uppercase)

capitalise; capitalize (write in capital letters)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A center that is associated more than any other with some activity or product

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

the drug capital of Columbia

Hypernyms ("capital" is a kind of...):

center; centre (a place where some particular activity is concentrated)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The federal government of the United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

Capital; Washington

Instance hypernyms:

federal government (a government with strong central powers)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A book written by Karl Marx (1867) describing his economic theories

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Capital; Das Kapital

Instance hypernyms:

book (a written work or composition that has been published (printed on pages bound together))

Sense 8

Meaning:

The upper part of a column that supports the entablature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cap; capital; chapiter

Hypernyms ("capital" is a kind of...):

top (the upper part of anything)

Holonyms ("capital" is a part of...):

column; pillar ((architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing upright and used to support a structure)

• CAPITAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

First-rate

Context example:

a capital idea

Similar:

superior (of high or superior quality or performance)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of primary importance

Context example:

our capital concern was to avoid defeat

Similar:

primary (of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Uppercase

Synonyms:

capital; great; majuscule

Context example:

many medieval manuscripts are in majuscule script

Similar:

uppercase (relating to capital letters which were kept in the top half of a compositor's type case)

Derivation:

capital (one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis)

 Context examples 

Talent, Mr. Micawber has; capital, Mr. Micawber has not.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

After March 24, you may receive venture capital for your business, or you could receive a large commission or tax refund.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Neither is there any remedy; because it is capital for those, who receive an audience to spit or wipe their mouths in his majesty’s presence.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

First there will be a capital roast; then the fat will find me in goose-grease for six months; and then there are all the beautiful white feathers.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"Capital boys, aren't they? I feel quite young and brisk again after that." said Jo, strolling along with her hands behind her, partly from habit, partly to conceal the bespattered parasol.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each had put an equal share of capital into the outfitting, and the profits were to be divided equally.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It has been kept very quiet, for the capital was all privately subscribed, and it’s too good a thing to let the public into.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)