I. cap ‧ i ‧ tal 1 S3 W1 /ˈkæpətl, ˈkæpɪtl/ BrE AmE noun
[ Sense 1, 3-4: Date: 1600-1700 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ capital 2 ]
[ Sense 2,5: Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: French ; Origin: Italian capitale , from Latin capitalis ; ⇨ ↑ capital 2 ]
[ Sense 6: Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old North French ; Origin: capitel , from Late Latin capitellum , from Latin caput ; ⇨ ↑ capital 2 ]
1 . CITY [countable] an important city where the main government of a country, state etc is:
Washington D.C., the capital of the United States
2 . MONEY [singular, uncountable] money or property, especially when it is used to start a business or to produce more wealth:
The government is eager to attract foreign capital.
⇨ ↑ working capital , ↑ venture capital
3 . LETTER [countable] a letter of the alphabet written in its large form, used for example at the beginning of someone’s name ⇨ lower case , upper case
4 . CENTRE OF ACTIVITY [countable] a place that is a centre for an industry, business, or other activity:
Hollywood is the capital of the movie industry.
5 . make capital from/out of something to use a situation or event to help you get an advantage
6 . BUILDING [countable] technical the top part of a ↑ column (=a long stone post used in some buildings)
• • •
THESAURUS
■ place with houses, shops, and offices
▪ city a large area with houses, shops, offices etc that is often the centre of government for an area. A city is bigger than a town :
The nearest big city is San Francisco.
▪ town a large area with houses, shops, offices etc. A town is smaller than a city :
La Coruña is a pretty seaside town.
▪ capital ( also capital city ) the city where the government of a country or state is:
We travelled to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
▪ metropolis a big busy city that is full of people and activity:
After 1850 Paris grew quickly into a busy metropolis.
▪ urban adjective [only before noun] relating to towns and cities:
Air pollution is particularly bad in urban areas.
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urban development
II. capital 2 S2 W3 BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: capitalis , from caput 'head' ]
1 . a capital letter is one that is written or printed in its large form ⇨ lower case , upper case :
capital ‘B’
2 . relating to money that you use to start a business or to make more money:
capital investments
3 . capital offence/crime an offence that is punished by death
4 . trouble with a capital T, fast with a capital F etc informal used with any word in order to emphasize that you are talking about an extreme type of something
5 . old-fashioned excellent