Capacity
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
capacity
n 1: capability to perform or produce; "among his gifts is his
capacity for true altruism"; "limited runway capacity"; "a
great capacity for growth" [ant: {incapacity}]
2: the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment;
"the capability of a metal to be fused" [syn: {capability},
{capacity}]
3: the amount that can be contained; "the gas tank has a
capacity of 12 gallons" [syn: {capacity}, {content}]
4: the maximum production possible; "the plant is working at 80
per cent capacity"
5: a specified function; "he was employed in the capacity of
director"; "he should be retained in his present capacity at
a higher salary"
6: (computer science) the amount of information (in bytes) that
can be stored on a disk drive; "the capacity of a hard disk
drive is usually expressed in megabytes"
7: an electrical phenomenon whereby an electric charge is stored
[syn: {capacitance}, {electrical capacity}, {capacity}]
8: the power to learn or retain knowledge; in law, the ability
to understand the facts and significance of your behavior
[syn: {capacity}, {mental ability}] [ant: {incapacity}]
9: tolerance for alcohol; "he had drunk beyond his capacity"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Capacity \Ca*pac"i*ty\ (k[.a]*p[a^]s"[i^]*t[y^]), n.; pl.
{Capacities} (-t[i^]z). [L. capacitus, fr. capax, capacis;
fr. F. capacit['e]. See {Capacious}.]
1. The power of receiving or containing; extent of room or
space; passive power; -- used in reference to physical
things.
[1913 Webster]
Had our great palace the capacity
To camp this host, we all would sup together.
--Shak.
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The capacity of the exhausted cylinder. --Boyle.
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2. The power of receiving and holding ideas, knowledge, etc.;
the comprehensiveness of the mind; the receptive faculty;
capability of understanding or feeling.
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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. --Sir W.
Hamilton.
[1913 Webster]
3. Ability; power pertaining to, or resulting from, the
possession of strength, wealth, or talent; possibility of
being or of doing.
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The capacity of blessing the people. --Alex.
Hamilton.
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A cause with such capacities endued. --Blackmore.
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4. Outward condition or circumstances; occupation;
profession; character; position; as, to work in the
capacity of a mason or a carpenter.
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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.
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{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}.
Syn: Ability; faculty; talent; capability; skill; efficiency;
cleverness. See {Ability}.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
CAPACITY. This word, in the law sense, denotes some ability, power,
qualification, or competency of persons, natural, or artificial, for the
performance of civil acts, depending on their state or condition, as defined
or fixed by law; as, the capacity to devise, to bequeath, to grant or convey
lands; to take; or to take. and hold lands to make a contract, and the like.
2 Com. Dig. 294; Dane's Abr. h.t.
2. The constitution requires that the president, senators, and
representatives should have attained certain ages; and in the case of the
senators and representatives, that out these they have no capacity to serve
in these offices.
3. All laws which regulate the capacity of persons to contract, are
considered personal laws; such are the laws which relate to minority and
majority; to the powers of guardians or parents, or the disabilities of
coverture. The law of the domicil generally governs in cases of this kind.
Burge. on Sureties, 89.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
260 Moby Thesaurus words for "capacity":
IQ, SRO, ability, ableness, accommodation, acumen, address,
adeptness, adequacy, adroitness, airmanship, amplitude,
apprehension, aptitude, artfulness, artisanship, artistry,
bellyful, bent, brains, bravura, brilliance, brimful, brimming,
bulging, bump, bumper, burden, bursting, caliber, capability,
capableness, capaciousness, capacitance, capital, character,
charge, chock-full, chuck-full, cleverness,
collector junction capacitance, command, commodiousness,
competence, competency, complement, comprehension, conception,
condition, congested, consciousness, content, control,
coordination, cordage, craft, craftsmanship, cram, cram-full,
crammed, crush, cunning, deductive power, deftness, devices,
dexterity, dexterousness, dextrousness, dimensions, diplomacy,
disposable resources, dower, dowry, duty, efficacy, efficiency,
emitter junction capacitance, endowment, equipment,
esemplastic power, expansiveness, expertise, extensiveness,
facility, faculties, faculty, farad, farci, fill, filled, finesse,
fitness, flair, flush, footing, forte, full, full house,
full measure, full to bursting, function, funds, genius, gift,
grace, grip, handiness, horsemanship, ideation, ingeniousness,
ingenuity, instinct, integrative power, intellect,
intellectual gifts, intellectual grasp, intellectual power,
intellectualism, intellectuality, intellectuals, intelligence,
intelligence quotient, jam up, jam-packed, job, judgement, knack,
know-how, knowledge, lading, limit, load, long suit, makings,
marksmanship, mastership, mastery, means, measure, mental age,
mental capacity, mental grasp, mental ratio, mentality, method,
metier, might, mother wit, mouthful, native wit, natural endowment,
natural gift, office, overfull, overstuffed, packed,
packed like sardines, part, parts, perception, perceptiveness,
perspicacity, place, plenary, position, post, potential, poundage,
power, power of mind, powers, practical ability, proficiency,
province, prowess, qualification, quality, quantity, quickness,
rank, rationality, readiness, ready to burst, reasoning power,
recourses, relation, replete, resistance capacitance, resorts,
resource, resourcefulness, resources, responsibility, role, room,
roominess, round, sanity, satiated, saturated, savoir-faire, savvy,
scope of mind, seamanship, sense, senses, situation, size, skill,
skillfulness, skinful, snootful, soaked, space, spaciousness,
speciality, sphere, standing, standing room only, state, station,
status, stock, stowage, strong flair, strong point, stuffed, style,
sufficiency, supply, surfeited, susceptibility, swollen, tact,
tactfulness, talent, talents, technical brilliance,
technical mastery, technical skill, technique, the goods,
the stuff, thinking power, timing, tonnage, topful, twin,
understanding, virtuosity, volume, ways, ways and means,
what it takes, wherewith, wherewithal, wit, wits, wizardry,
workmanship
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