capacity

plural capacities

1. countableuncountableThe ability to hold, receive, or absorb.
2. countableuncountableA measure of such ability; volume.
   1. countableuncountableThe maximum amount that can be held.

      It was hauling a capacity load.

      2 more examples

      The orchestra played to a capacity crowd.

      A factory operating at less than full capacity.

3. countableuncountableCapability; the ability to perform some task.

   Surprisingly few men are lacking in capacity, but they fail because they are lacking in application. Either they never learn how to work, or, having learned, they are too indolent to apply themselves with the seriousness and the attention that is necessary to solve important problems.

   1929, Calvin Coolidge, The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, →OCLC, page 171

   Synonyms: ability, technique, aptitude, craft, capability, competency, competence, cunning

4. countableuncountableThe maximum that can be produced.

   Synonyms: throughput

   1. countableuncountableoperationsThe 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

5. countableuncountableThe potential for growth and development.
   1. countableuncountableMental ability; the power to learn.
6. countableuncountableA role; the position in which one functions.

   in my capacity as team captain

   1. countableuncountableLegal authority (to make an arrest for example).
7. countableuncountableElectrical capacitance.

1. not comparableFilling the allotted space.