/ ˈkæpɪtl; NAmE / noun , adjective
■ noun
CITY
1.
(also ˌcapital ˈcity ) [ C ] the most important town or city of a country, usually where the central government operates from :
Cairo is the capital of Egypt.
( figurative )
Paris, the fashion capital of the world
MONEY
2.
[ sing. ] a large amount of money that is invested or is used to start a business :
to set up a business with a starting capital of £100 000
3.
[ U ] wealth or property that is owned by a business or a person :
capital assets
capital expenditure (= money that an organization spends on buildings, equipment, etc.)
4.
[ U ] ( technical ) people who use their money to start businesses, considered as a group :
capital and labour
LETTER
5.
(also ˌcapital ˈletter ) [ C ] a letter of the form and size that is used at the beginning of a sentence or a name (= A,B,C rather than a,b,c) :
Use block capitals (= separate capital letters) .
Please write in capitals / in capital letters .
ARCHITECTURE
6.
the top part of a column
—picture at column
•
IDIOMS
- make capital (out) of sth
■ adjective
PUNISHMENT
1.
[ only before noun ] involving punishment by death :
a capital offence
LETTER
2.
[ only before noun ] ( of letters of the alphabet ) having the form and size used at the beginning of a sentence or a name :
English is written with a capital 'E'.
—compare lower case
EXCELLENT
3.
( old-fashioned , BrE ) excellent
•
IDIOMS
- with a capital A, B, etc.
••
WORD ORIGIN
noun senses 1 to 5 and adjective Middle English (as an adjective in the sense relating to the head or top , later standing at the head or beginning ): via Old French from Latin capitalis , from caput head.
noun sense 6 Middle English : from Old French capitel , from late Latin capitellum little head, diminutive of Latin caput .