Meaning of capacity in English

capacity

noun

/kəˈpæs.ə.ti/ us

/kəˈpæs.ə.t̬i/

capacity noun (AMOUNT)

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B2 [ U or C ]

the total amount that can be contained or produced:

at capacity The elevator was at capacity and could not take any more passengers.

at full capacity All our factories are working at full capacity (= are producing goods as fast as possible).

capacity crowd The game was watched by a capacity crowd of 50,000 (= the place was completely full).

seating capacity The stadium has a seating capacity of 50,000.

The generators each have a capacity of (= can produce) 1,000 kilowatts.

The larger cars have bigger capacity engines (= the engines are bigger and more powerful).

We are running below capacity (= not producing as many goods as we are able to) because of cancelled orders.

More examplesFewer examples

The last five years have seen a huge increase in the country's export capacity.
The company has expanded its premises with a new 10,000 sq ft factory and plans to double capacity.
They are trying to operate beyond the capacity of the airport.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Measurements of volume

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capacity noun (ability)

[ S ]

someone's ability to do a particular thing:

capacity to A good leader must have the capacity to make decisions.

beyond the capacity of Developing a completely new system was beyond the capacity of any local researchers.

It seems to be beyond his capacity to follow simple instructions.

within the capacity of Running a two-minute film should be within the capacity of any home computer.

Do you think it's within his capacity to do the job without making a mess of it?

capacity for She has a great capacity for hard work.

Synonyms

ability
capability (ABILITY)
powers

See also

mental capacity

More examplesFewer examples

She had an immense capacity for love.
He lacked the capacity to listen.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Skill, talent and ability

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capacity noun (POSITION)

C1 [ S ] formal

a particular position or job:

in a capacity It would be a privilege to serve my country in any capacity.

in someone's capacity as something She guides tourists at the Martin Luther King Jr. Birth Home in her capacity as a National Park Service ranger.

She was speaking in her capacity as a novelist, rather than as a television presenter.

(Definition of capacity from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

capacity | American Dictionary

capacity

noun [ C/U ]

/kəˈpæs·ɪ·t̬i/

capacity noun [C/U] (AMOUNT)

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the amount that can be held or produced by something:

[ C ] The stadium has a seating capacity of 50,000.

[ U ] The theater was full to capacity that night.

capacity noun [C/U] (ABILITY)

[ C ]

the ability to do something in particular:

He has an enormous capacity for work.

capacity noun [C/U] (POSITION)

[ C ]

a particular position or job; a role:

She was speaking in her capacity as a judge.

(Definition of capacity from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

capacity | Business English

capacity

noun

/kəˈpæsəti/ us

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[ S or U ]

the total amount or number of things or people that something can hold:

a capacity of sth The tanks have a capacity of 1000 litres.

capacity audience/crowd The rally drew a capacity crowd of 15,000 people (= the place, which held 15,000 people, was completely full).

See also

deadweight (carrying) capacity

[ S or U ] PRODUCTION

the total amount of something that can be produced:

cut/expand/increase capacity They aim to expand capacity by 3 million barrels a day.

All our factories are now working at full capacity.

See also

excess capacity

spare capacity

[ S or U ]

the ability of a person or organization to do something:

capacity to do sth "Every industry has the capacity to go green," he says.

capacity for sth Most people have little capacity for creativity in solving problems at work.

See also

legal capacity

[ S ] WORKPLACE

a particular position or job:

sb's capacity as sth In her capacity as portfolio manager, she has primary responsibility for making day-to-day investment decisions.

He attends Board meetings in an advisory capacity.

(Definition of capacity from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of capacity

capacity

A second important benefit of dreaming is to maintain cognitive capacities such as encoding perceptions, making decisions, and planning actions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Hand-written annotations and automated calculations are given a complementarity status as they contribute to a process of a heightening of listening capacities.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In indigenous thought, full ' this-worldly ' personhood implied bodily capacities, not as an aspect of itself but as the precondition to enter and sustain social relationships.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Further, the language of local institutional development uses notions like animation, motivation, or catalysts which convey the idea of retrieval of latent community capacities.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We note that the reform countries differ in size and production structure suggesting different capacities in goods delivery and absorption.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Indeed, experience and rational calculation might well build on the kind of evolved capacities that concern us here.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One conclusion from this is that economic security is a key determinant of planning and this means that people have different capacities to plan.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The provision of basic social rights is subject to the capacities of governments to raise the necessary resources for effectively running social programmes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The disruptive capacities of genetics illuminate contemporary thinking about race.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

What if any were the linguistic capacities of antecedent species?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Consequently, some living beings exercise their capacities for reproduction; other living beings do not need to, since they are everlasting.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Along with its emphasis on local capacities and resilience, this volume tends to view donors, international organisations and global processes with scepticism.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The capacities of reconfiguration are obviously linked to the results of fault detection and isolation algorithms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

An agent's cognitive capacities enable her both to receive and process information.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

What it is possible for an agent to know is constrained in crucial part by the cognitive capacities with which she is endowed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of capacity

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with capacity

capacity

These are words often used in combination with capacity.

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absorption capacity

The realized pollution is determined jointly by the demand for polluting rights or environmental absorption capacity and the supply of these rights.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

adaptive capacity

Societal changes, however, have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity, made others obsolete, and have resulted in emerging vulnerabilities in certain sections of the community.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

additional capacity

As additional capacity is added-more synthesis and imaging procedures- marginal costs will again remain relatively fixed until full capacity is again reached.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with capacity

What is the pronunciation of capacity?

Translations of capacity

in Chinese (Traditional)

數量, 容積，容量, 生產能力…

Meaning of capacity in English

capacity noun (AMOUNT)

capacity noun (ability)

capacity noun (POSITION)

capacity | American Dictionary

capacity noun [C/U] (AMOUNT)

capacity noun [C/U] (ABILITY)

capacity noun [C/U] (POSITION)

capacity | Business English

Examples of capacity

Collocations with capacity

capacity

Translations of capacity

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