capital Definition

capital¹
noun

1. The chief city of a country, usually where the government is based.
2. A capital letter (see adj 2 below).
3. The total amount of money or wealth possessed by a person or business, etc, especially when used to produce more wealth.

Thesaurus: assets, resources, wealth, savings, interests, cash.

adj

1. Principal; chief.

Thesaurus: principal, primary, foremost, dominant, chief, central.
2. Said of a letter of the alphabet: in its large form, as used eg at the beginnings of names and sentences. Also called upper-case.
3. Said of a crime: punishable by death.
(Brit)
4. old use, colloq
Excellent.
Thesaurus: excellent, splendid, delightful, superb, fine, perfect.

Idiom: make capital out of something

To use a situation or circumstance to one's advantage.

Idiom: with a capital A

In a very real or genuine sense.
Example: poverty with a capital P

Etymology: 13c meaning ‘relating to the head': French, from Latin capitalis, from caput head.

Info:

A capital letter should be used for:

○ the first letter of the first word in a sentence.

○ the first letter of proper nouns, such as names of people and places, and words derived from them &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; .

○ the first letter of all important words in titles, eg of people, plays, films and organizations &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox;

Note that when an unimportant word is the first word in the title of a book, play or film, it must have a capital &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; .

○ the first letter of brand names &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; .

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capital²
noun

1. archit.
The slab of stone, etc, usually ornamentally carved, that forms the top section of a column or pillar.

Etymology: 13c: from Latin capitellum, diminutive of caput head.