punishable by death: a capital crime; a capital offender.
17.
fatal; extremely serious: a capital error.
[Origin: 1175–1225; ME; (adj.) (< AF) < L capitālis of the head (capit-, s. of caput head, + -ālis-al1); (n.) < ML capitāle wealth, n. use of neut. of capitālis (adj.)]
—Related forms
cap·i·tal·ness, noun
—Synonyms 4. principal, investment, assets, stock. 11. prime, primary, first. The adjectives capital,chief,major,principal apply to a main or leading representative of a kind. Capital may mean larger or more prominent; it may also suggest preeminence or excellence: capital letter, idea, virtue, etc. Chief means leading, highest in office or power: the chief clerk. Major may refer to greatness of importance, number, or quantity: a major operation, the major part of a population. Principal refers to most distinguished, influential, or foremost: principal officer.
—Antonyms 11. trivial, minor.
—Usage note The noun capital1 refers to a city or town that is the seat of government; to a capital letter as opposed to a lowercase letter; and to wealth or resources. The noun Capitol refers primarily to the building in Washington, D.C., in which Congress sits or to similar buildings used by state legislatures.
A town or city that is the official seat of government in a political entity, such as a state or nation.
A city that is the center of a specific activity or industry: the financial capital of the world.
Wealth in the form of money or property, used or accumulated in a business by a person, partnership, or corporation.
Material wealth used or available for use in the production of more wealth.
Human resources considered in terms of their contributions to an economy: "[The] swift unveiling of his . . . plans provoked a flight of human capital"(George F. Will).
Wealth in the form of money or property, used or accumulated in a business by a person, partnership, or corporation.
Material wealth used or available for use in the production of more wealth.
Human resources considered in terms of their contributions to an economy: "[The] swift unveiling of his . . . plans provoked a flight of human capital"(George F. Will).
Accounting The remaining assets of a business after all liabilities have been deducted; net worth.
Capital stock.
Capitalists considered as a group or class.
An asset or advantage: "profited from political capital accumulated by others"(Michael Mandelbaum).
A capital letter.
adj.
First and foremost; principal: a decision of capital importance.
First-rate; excellent: a capital idea.
Relating to or being a seat of government.
Extremely serious: a capital blunder.
Involving death or calling for the death penalty: a capital offense.
Of or relating to financial assets, especially being or related to those financial assets that add to the net worth of a business: made capital improvements at the plant site.
Relating to or being a capital letter.
[From Middle English, principal, from Old French, from Latin capitālis, from caput, head, money laid out; see kaput- in Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: The term for a town or city that serves as a seat of government is spelled capital. The term for the building in which a legislative assembly meets is spelled capitol.
c.1225, from L. capitalis "of the head," from caput (gen. capitis) "head" (see head). A capital crime (1526) is one that affects the life, or the "head." The noun for "chief town" is first recorded 1667 (the O.E. word was heafodstol). The financial sense (1630) is from L.L. capitale "stock, property," neut. of capitalis. Of ships, "first-rate, of the line," attested from 1652. Capital letters (c.1391) are at the "head" of a sentence or word. Capitalism first recorded 1854; originally "the condition of having capital;" as a political/economic system, 1877. Capitalist is 1791, from Fr. capitaliste, a coinage of the Revolution and a term of reproach.
of primary importance; "our capital concern was to avoid defeat"
3.
uppercase; "capital A"; "great A"; "many medieval manuscripts are in majuscule script"
noun
1.
assets available for use in the production of further assets
2.
wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value
3.
a seat of government
4.
one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis; "printers once kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper half of the type case and so became known as upper-case letters" [ant: lower-case letter]
5.
a center that is associated more than any other with some activity or product; "the crime capital of Italy"; "the drug capital of Columbia"
6.
the federal government of the United States
7.
a book written by Karl Marx (1867) describing his economic theories [syn: Das Kapital]
8.
the upper part of a column that supports the entablature
Note: The form of the capital often serves to distinguish one style of architecture from another. For example, the Corinthian, Doric, and Ionic styles of Greek architecture all have different capitals.
Capital Hill, MP (CDP, FIPS 5900) Location: 15.20010 N, 145.75183 E Population (1990): 1234 (340 housing units) Area: 6.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Bi"ceps\, n. [L., two-headed; bis twice + caput head. See Capital.] (Anat.) A muscle having two heads or origins; -- applied particularly to a flexor in the arm, and to another in the thigh.
Cap"i*tal\, a. [F. capital, L. capitalis capital (in senses 1 & 2), fr. caput head. See Chief, and cf. Capital, n.]1. Of or pertaining to the head. [Obs.] Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal pain. --Milton. 2. Having reference to, or involving, the forfeiture of the head or life; affecting life; punishable with death; as, capital trials; capital punishment. Many crimes that are capital among us. --Swift. To put to death a capital offender. --Milton. 3. First in importance; chief; principal. A capital article in religion --Atterbury. Whatever is capital and essential in Christianity. --I. Taylor. 4. Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation; as, Washington and Paris are capital cities. 5. Of first rate quality; excellent; as, a capital speech or song. [Colloq.] Capital letter [F, lettre capitale] (Print.), a leading or heading letter, used at the beginning of a sentence and as the first letter of certain words, distinguished, for the most part, both by different form and larger size, from the small (lower-case) letters, which form the greater part of common print or writing. Small capital letters have the form of capital letters and height of the body of the lower-case letters. Capital stock, money, property, or stock invested in any business, or the enterprise of any corporation or institution. --Abbott. Syn: Chief; leading; controlling; prominent.
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