capital

noun

1. (uncountable)Money and wealth: the means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.

   “Near-synonym: assets”

   “He does not have enough capital to start a business.”

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

   “Near-synonym: assets”

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

3. (uncountable)The capitalist class; investors considered collectively with respect to their societal (economic, political, cultural, etc.) influence.

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

   “He warned us darkly that capital will never be sated.”

4. (countable)A 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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

5. (countable)The most important city in the field specified.

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

6. (countable)An uppercase letter.
7. (uncountable)Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.

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

8. (broadly, countable)The chief or most important thing.
9. (countable)The 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: […]”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of prime importance.

   “a capital article in religion”

   “whatever is capital and essential in Christianity”

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

   “London and Paris are capital cities.”

3. (UK, comparable, dated, not-comparable)Excellent.

   “That is a capital idea!”

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

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

4. (not-comparable)Punishable by, or involving punishment by, death.

   “capital punishment; capital murder”

   “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.”

   “to put to death a capital offender”

   “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.”

5. (not-comparable)Uppercase.

   “One begins a sentence with a capital letter.”

6. (not-comparable)Uppercase.

   “You're a genius with a capital G!”

   “He's dead with a capital D!”

   “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.”

7. (not-comparable)Of or relating to the head.

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

intj

1. (dated, slang)used as an expression of approval, satisfaction, or delight.

   “That's an amazing idea! Capital!”

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

name

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.”

2. A governorate in northern Bahrain.