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Meaning & use

capability

noun·Academic

Last updated

UK/ˌkeɪpəˈbɪləti/
US/ˌkeɪpəˈbɪləti/

Meanings

  1. nouncountable or uncountable

    The power or skill needed to do something.

    Grammar: Followed by of plus -ing or by to: the capability to adapt.

    Patterns

    • the capability to do something
    • the capability of doing something

    The new phone has the capability to record in 4K.

    He doubted her capability of running the team alone.

    Training improves a worker's capability.

  2. nouncountabletechnical

    A feature or resource of a system, machine or organization that lets it perform a particular task.

    Grammar: Often plural in business and military talk: cyber capabilities.

    Patterns

    • a capability for something

    The software adds a translation capability.

    The army upgraded its air defense capabilities.

    The company lacks the capability to manufacture on this scale.

Word forms

pluralcapabilities

Common combinations

have the capability
The device has the capability to work underwater.
military capability
The country is expanding its military capability.
beyond one's capabilities
The task was beyond his capabilities.
develop a capability
The lab aims to develop a new testing capability.
technical capability
We need staff with more technical capability.

Synonyms and how they differ

ability
Ability is the everyday word for being able to do something and often refers to a person, while capability often refers to a system or organization.
capacity
Capacity stresses the amount that can be held or produced, not merely whether the thing can be done.
competence
Competence means doing something adequately well, whereas capability is about what could be done.
potential
Potential refers to what may be achieved in future, while capability is what can be done now.

Opposites

incapacityinability

Word family

capable adjective
able to do something well
capably adverb
in a skilled and effective way
incapable adjective
not able to do something
incapability noun
the lack of ability to do something

Commonly confused: capability or capacity?

capability vs capacity

Capacity is how much something can hold or produce, such as a stadium with a capacity of 50,000, while capability is whether it can do a task.

Practice

The satellite has the ___ to photograph objects as small as a car.

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