US /[ˈkʰæp.ɪ.ɾɫ̩]/ UK /ˈkæpɪtəl/
adj noun Freq #2736

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    The most important city of a country or region, usually where the government is.

    Paris is the capital of France.

  2. 2
    noun

    A large letter used at the start of names and sentences.

    Write your name in capitals at the top of the form.

  3. 3
    noun

    Money and wealth used to start or run a business.

    They needed to raise enough capital to open a second shop.

  4. 4
    noun

    A place that is most famous for a particular activity or product.

    The town calls itself the chocolate capital of the country.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
2 noun · a large letter used at the... uppercase
3 noun · money and wealth used to... asset
Word family
Forms capitals
Derived forms anticapitalbiocapitalcapital-intensivecapitaldomcapitaledcapitalismcapitalisticcapitalitiscapitalizecapitallycapitalnesscapitonym

Etymology

From Middle English capitale, partly from Old French capital and partly from Late Latin capitellum (“capital or chapiter of a column”), a form of Latin capitulum (“head-like object or structure; chapter”) (whence English capitulum, chapter, and the synonym chapiter (“uppermost part of a column”)), from caput (“head”) + -ulum (diminutive suffix). Doublet of caddie, cadel, cadet, capitellum, and caudillo.

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