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capability

UK/ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/US/ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ə.ti/
nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,131 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: capabilities

Capability is what somebody or something is able to do. Military capability, a new capability, beyond our capability.

It is what could be done rather than what is being done, which is the difference from capacity, meaning how much. In defence and technology the word is used almost as a countable thing: a capability is a specific power a force or a system has.

Definitions of capability

  1. 1nouncapabilityWhat somebody or something is able to do.C1

    “The new phone has the capability to translate speech as you talk.”

capability is an ability.

Where it comes from

From capable, from Late Latin capabilis, able to hold, from capere, to take.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kap-

  2. Latin

    capābilis

  3. Middle French

    capable

  4. English

    capable

  5. English, today

    capability

Formed in Modern English as capable + -ity. capable Borrowed from Middle French capable, from Latin capābilis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

capability in the wild

  • A user program on a capability-based operating system must use a capability to access an object.

    Capability-based security

  • A capability-based system, in contrast, is designed with that goal in mind.

    Capability-based security

  • The core focus of the capability approach is improving access to the tools people use to live a fulfilling life.

    Capability approach

  • The former Soviet Union and the United Kingdom formerly had such an independent capability.

    Timeline of first orbital launches by country

  • The United States Department of Defense chooses to use the term initial operational capability when referring to IOC.

    Initial operating capability

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the capable family

capable

capability — used about once every 2,415 pages · #7,131 · point at the bar for the others

  • incapable