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capitol

 - 3 dictionary results

Cap⋅i⋅tol

  [kap-i-tl]
Use capitol in a Sentence
–noun
1. the building in Washington, D.C., used by the Congress of the U.S. for its sessions.
2. (often lowercase) a building occupied by a state legislature.
3. the ancient temple of Jupiter at Rome, on the Capitoline.
4. the Capitoline.
Origin:
1690–1700, Americanism; < L capitōlium temple of Jupiter on Capitoline hill, Rome, taken to be a derivative of caput head; r. ME capitolie < ONF

Usage note:
See capital 1 .
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cap·i·tol   (kāp'ĭ-tl)   
n.  

  1. A building or complex of buildings in which a state legislature meets.

  2. Capitol The building in Washington, D.C., where the Congress of the United States meets. See Usage Note at capital1.


[Middle English Capitol, Jupiter's temple in Rome, from Old French capitole, from Latin Capitōlium, after Capitōlīnus, Capitoline, the hill on which Jupiter's temple stood; perhaps akin to caput, capit-, head; see capital1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Capitol 
"building where U.S. Congress meets," 1793 (in writings of Thomas Jefferson), from L. Capitolium, temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. Used earlier of Virginia state houses (1699). Its use in American public architecture deliberately evokes Roman republican imagery. With reference to the Roman citadel, it is recorded from 1375. Relationship to capital is likely but not certain.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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