different between breadth vs capacity

English

Etymology

From Middle English breedthe, bredethe, alteration (due to nouns ending in -th: length, strength, wrength, etc.) of Middle English brede ("breadth"; see bread). Equivalent to broad +? -th. Cognate with Scots bredth (“breadth”), Saterland Frisian Bratte (“breadth”), West Frisian breedte (“breadth”), Dutch breedte (“breadth”), German Low German Breddte, Breddt (“breadth”), German Breite (“breadth”), Danish bredde (“breadth”), Swedish bredd (“breadth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??d?/, /b??t?/, /b???/
• Rhymes: -?d?

Noun

breadth (countable and uncountable, plural breadths)

1. The extent or measure of how broad or wide something is.
2. A piece of fabric of standard width.
3. Scope or range, especially of knowledge or skill.
4. (art) A style in painting in which details are strictly subordinated to the harmony of the whole composition.
5. (graph theory) The length of the longest path between two vertices in a graph.

Synonyms

• (extent or measure of how broad something is): width
• (piece of fabric of standard width):
• (scope or range): extent, range, scope, size

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English capacite, from Old French capacite, from Latin cap?cit?s, from capax (“able to hold much”), from capi? (“to hold, to contain, to take, to understand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??pæs?ti/

Noun

capacity (countable and uncountable, plural capacities)

1. The ability to hold, receive or absorb
2. A measure of such ability; volume
3. The maximum amount that can be held

   It was hauling a capacity load.

   The orchestra played to a capacity crowd.

4. Capability; the ability to perform some task
5. The maximum that can be produced.
6. Mental ability; the power to learn
7. A faculty; the potential for growth and development
8. A role; the position in which one functions
9. Legal authority (to make an arrest for example)
10. Electrical capacitance.
11. (operations) The maximum that can be produced on a machine or in a facility or group.

    Its capacity rating was 150 tons per hour, but its actual maximum capacity was 200 tons per hour.

Synonyms

• throughput
• See also Thesaurus:skill

Derived terms

• capac
• capacitance
• capacitate
• capacitive
• capacitation
• capacitor

Translations

References

• capacity at OneLook Dictionary Search

Adjective

capacity

1. Filling the allotted space.

   There will be a capacity crowd at Busch stadium for the sixth game.

   • 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal

     At an overcast Eton Dorney, roared on by a capacity crowd including Prince Harry and Prince William, the volume rose as they entered the final stages.

Related terms

• capacious

Further reading

• capacity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• capacity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• capacity at OneLook Dictionary Search