From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcapitalcap‧i‧tal1 /ˈkæpətl/ ●●● S3 W1 noun 1 cityCITY [countable]PGTOWN an important city where the main government of a country, state etc is Washington D.C., the capital of the United States► see thesaurus at city2 FINANCIALmoney [singular, uncountable]BBMONEY 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. → venture capital, working capital3 letterLETTER [countable]SLA a letter of the alphabet written in its large form, used for example at the beginning of someone’s name → lower case, upper case4 centre of activityCENTRE OF ACTIVITY [countable]BUSY PLACE 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 something6 building [countable] technical the top part of a column (=a long stone post used in some buildings)
Examples from the Corpus
capital• Rome is one of the world's most beautiful capitals.• The food associated with economic capital is characterized by rich sauces and desserts, and rare and luxurious items such as truffles.• When evaluating capital budgeting decisions, it is this marginal cost that should be used as the appropriate cost of capital.• The nation state, particularly in the third world and the erstwhile Eastern bloc, is the agent of global capital.• Raley started a grocery business in the 1930s with $1000 in capital.• Please fill in your name and address in capitals.• The plan is expected to create vast amounts of investment capital.• Consumer goods occupy a much more contradictory place in the circulation and realisation of capital than do fixed assets.• There is a shortage of capital for building new aircraft.• Our return on capital has more than doubled since 1980.• Since the stockmarket crash, companies have been trying to raise capital by selling new stock.• The tour includes a trip to Budapest, Hungary's capital city.• Preference shares, particularly redeemable preference shares, are sometimes considered to be more akin to loan stock than share capital.• Typically too, nationalized industry balance sheets show capital as amounts owed to the central government.• Sacramento is the state capital of California.• The popes regarded the city as the capital of their duchy.• On Oct. 10 between 30 and 100 people were reported hurt during a pro-Ershad rally in the capital, Dhaka.• Albany is the capital of New York State.• What's the capital of Canada?capitalcapital2 ●●○ adjective 1 SLAa 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 investments3 → capital offence/crime4 → trouble with a capital T, fast with a capital F etc5 GOOD/EXCELLENT old-fashioned excellentExamples from the Corpus
capital• The company's logo is a large capital "B."• During the year the bank actually had 12. 18 billion pesetas in capital gains from its fixed-income portfolio.• Payroll taxes are levied only on wages and salaries-not profits, interest, dividends, or capital gains.• Some investment managers may compensate by making a slight switch in emphasis towards capital growth investments and away from high yielding equities.• The fund manager can, therefore, select the mix of bonds which offers the most attractive yield and capital growth potential.• However, cuts in capital investment and fuel supply problems have reduced capacity growth to something around 3% per year.• The recycling industry is making huge capital investments in equipment.• In the latter case it will be necessary to work closely with the local authority in carrying out a capital project.• We intend to lighten the burden of capital taxes and reform the taxation of savings.From Longman Business Dictionarycapitalcap‧i‧tal /ˈkæpətl/ noun [uncountable]1ECONOMICSmoney or property used to produce wealthCountries around the world are hungry for capital and economic development. → see also return on capital2FINANCEmoney from shareholders and lenders that can be invested by a business in assets in order to produce profitsThere is a shortage of capital for the purchase of new aircraft.Since the stockmarket fall, companies have been prevented from raising capital by selling new stock.The company desperately needs a fresh injection of capital.The company has bought lots of land over the last few years, which ties up capital (=makes it unavailable for use) as it waits to develop it. → authorized capital → circulating capital → core capital → debt capital → equity capital → fixed capital → flight capital → issued capital → loan capital → nominal capital → operating capital → ordinary capital → paid-in capital → preference capital → risk capital → share capital → split capital → Tier 1 capital → Tier 2 capital → uncalled capital → unissued capital → venture capital → working capitalOrigin capital1 1. (1600-1700) → CAPITAL22. (1600-1700) French Italian capitale, from Latin capitalis; → CAPITAL23. (1200-1300) Old North French capitel, from Late Latin capitellum, from Latin caput; → CAPITAL2 capital2 (1100-1200) Latin capitalis, from caput “head” 