capital

plural capitals · alternative obsolete capitall

1. uncountablebusinessMoney and wealth: the means to acquire or produce goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.

   Near-synonym: assets

   1 more example

   He does not have enough capital to start a business.

   Synonyms: asset

2. uncountableeconomicsAlready-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as tools and bulldozers (equipment) and office buildings (structures).

   Near-synonym: assets

   1 more example

   He pointed out that it takes both labour and capital to produce goods.

   Synonyms: asset

3. uncountablegovernmentThe capitalist class; capital owners considered collectively as a politically influential group — commonly represented by wealthy individuals and private institutional investors.

   He warned us darkly that capital will never be sated.

   1 more example

   The markets crashing symbolized capital’s discontent with the tax reforms passed.

4. countableA city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

   Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States of America.

   5 more examples

   The Welsh government claims that Cardiff is Europe’s youngest capital.

   Lin Hsiang-ju immediately said to the king of Ch’in, “If Ta-wang wants fifteen cities from Chao, the king of Chao should also get something in return. What about giving him Hsien-yang as a gift?’ Hsien-yang was the capital of Ch’in.

   1995, Linda Fang, The Chʻi-lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 54

   Ladies of yesteryear toured world capitals in sedate linen dresses, but such priggish frumpery hardly presents Americans as the carefree, egalitarian, and sensuous people the viewers of dubbed Baywatch episodes have come to expect.

   2005, Sharon Grehan, Random Acts of Malice, page 56

   From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

   2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2020, page 52

   State legislative races tend to come cheap, with low turnout and tiny margins despite how state capitals have taken on an ever larger role amid legislative stalemate in Washington, DC. In 2020, a combined total of 46,000 votes determined which party was in majority control in 13 different state legislature chambers across the country.

   2022 April 5, Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Why these Democrats think 25 state legislative races are the key to securing the 2024 presidential election”, in CNN

5. countableThe most important city in the field specified.

   Hollywood is the film capital, New York the theater capital, Las Vegas the gambling capital.

   2010 September, Charlie Brennan, "Active Athletes", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 83

6. countableAn uppercase letter.

   Synonyms: caps, majuscule · Antonyms: minuscule

7. uncountableKnowledge; awareness; proficiency.

   Interpreters need a good amount of cultural capital in order to function efficiently in the profession.

8. broadlycountableThe chief or most important thing.

alternative obsolete capitall

1. not comparableOf prime importance.

   a capital article in religion

   1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions, Preface

   1 more example

   whatever is capital and essential in Christianity

   1852, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening

2. not comparableChief (in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation).

   London and Paris are capital cities.

3. UKcomparabledatednot comparableExcellent.

   a capital fellow

   5 more examples

   That is a capital idea!

   She was a capital housekeeper, and used invisibly to lay out the table in the neatest and handiest manner.

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 395

   “He is a capital fellow,” the Englishman in London had said, “and he has got an awfully pretty wife. […]”

   1878, Henry James, An International Episode

   Sometimes he laughed heartily as if he heard some capital joke; by degrees this lessened, and he spoke rapidly, but in very low tones.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 166

   "He really is a capital fellow, isn't he?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch, when Veslovsky had gone out and the peasant had closed the door after him. "Yes, capital," answered Levin, still thinking of the subject of their conversation just before.

   1901 [1878], chapter 11, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 6

4. not comparablecrimePunishable by, or involving punishment by, death.

   capital punishment; capital murder

   3 more examples

   Neither could the Legiſlature in any thing more conſult the Publick Good, than by providing ſome effectual Remedy againſt this Evil, which in ſeveral Caſes deſerves greater Puniſhment than many Crimes that are capital among us.

   1709, [Jonathan Swift], A Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Reformation of Manners. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], →OCLC, pages 53–54

   to put to death a capital offender

   1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC

   Some 1,600 priests were deported, for example, while the total number of capital victims of the military commissions down to 1799 was only around 150.

   2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 517

5. not comparableUppercase.

   One begins a sentence with a capital letter.

   Synonyms: majuscular, uppercase · Antonyms: lower-case

   1. not comparableUsed to emphasise greatness or absoluteness.

      He's dead with a capital D!

      2 more examples

      You're a genius with a capital G!

      In recent years, much has been made of the lack of new heavyweight male star power in mainstream Hollywood. Talented performers may be everywhere, but Movie Stars, capital M, capital S, are something else.

      2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC

      Synonyms: majuscular, uppercase · Antonyms: lower-case

6. not comparableOf or relating to the head.

   Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise / Expect with mortal pain.

   1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

alternative obsolete capitall

1. datedslangused as an expression of approval, satisfaction, or delight.

   That's an amazing idea! Capital!

   1 more example

   "Capital! And I shall soon get a bonus."

   1918, Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, White Nights, page 83

plural capitals · alternative obsolete capitall

1. countablearchitectureThe uppermost part of a column.

   But a great wonder of this chamber, and a marvel to behold, was how the capital of every one of the four-and-twenty pillars was hewn from a single precious stone, carved by the hand of some sculptor of long ago into the living form of a monster: […]

   1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 3

   Synonyms: chapiter

1. The Capital Airlines, which operated as a trunk carrier in the United States before merging with United Airlines in 1961.

   Fornasero had been a pilot for almost 19 years and joined Capital in 1941. He spent three years as a pilot for the Air Force during World War II and then rejoined the airline.

   2010 January 18, Mary Franklyn, “Looking Back: Muskegon pilot, 49 passengers and crew perish in 1960 airliner crash”, in MLive, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2023

1. A governorate in northern Bahrain.