Meaning & use
large-cap
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounbusinessfinance
Relating to a company with a very high total market value, usually several billion dollars or more.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a large-cap stock, large-cap companies. It is not used after a verb.
Patterns
- large-cap stock
- large-cap company
- large-cap fund
She prefers large-cap stocks because they are usually less risky than smaller companies.
The fund invests mainly in large-cap technology firms.
Large-cap companies often pay regular dividends to their shareholders.
nouncountablebusinessfinanceinformal
A company, or its stock, with a very high total market value.
Grammar: Countable noun, often used in the plural: large-caps. You can say 'a large-cap' for one such company or share.
Patterns
- invest in large-caps
- a large-cap
- buy large-caps
The portfolio is divided between large-caps and small-caps.
He sold his large-caps and moved into bonds.
Many large-caps have global operations.
Word forms
| plural | large-caps |
|---|
Common combinations
- large-cap stock
- Large-cap stocks are often seen as safer investments.
- large-cap company
- A large-cap company like this one can borrow money more easily.
- large-cap fund
- The large-cap fund holds shares in about fifty big firms.
- large-cap index
- The large-cap index rose two percent today.
Synonyms and how they differ
- blue chip
- A blue chip is a well-known, successful company, often but not always large-cap; the focus is on reputation and stability rather than exact size.
- big-cap
- A less common synonym that means the same thing; large-cap is the standard term in finance.
Opposites
Word family
- mid-cap adjective
- Relating to a company with a medium total market value.
- small-cap adjective
- Relating to a company with a relatively small total market value.
- market capitalization noun
- The total value of a company's shares.
Commonly confused: large-cap or large cap?
large-cap vs large cap
This is just another spelling of the same term, without a hyphen. Both are correct, but 'large-cap' is more common in writing.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'large-cap' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Large-cap' is an adjective used before a noun or after a linking verb like 'is' to describe a company's size. Option 1 uses it correctly after 'is'. The other options use it as a verb or noun in ways that are not standard.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “large-cap”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.