Definition of capability
capabilities
1 : the quality or state of being capable; also : ability The mayor has demonstrated his capability to handle municipal problems.
2 : a feature or faculty capable of development : potentiality This vacant urban district has great capabilities.
3 : the facility or potential for an indicated use or deployment the capability of a metal to be fused nuclear capability
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Examples of capability in a Sentence
The device has the capability of recording two television channels at once.
the nature of the tasks to which you are assigned will depend on your capabilities
Recent Examples of capability from the Web
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Once Diana was given the gift, she was visited by the goddesses Aphrodite and Athena, who imbued the hand-me-down with its truth-demanding capabilities.
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Brief summaries of each accident show a wide spectrum of risks, capabilities, and other factors at play in each instance.
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One Christmas my mom and dad give me a motorized plastic scale model of the USS Halibut, an assault submarine with nuclear missile capability used during the war.
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European leaders want to coordinate defense purchasing and do more to have standing military capabilities that are deployable outside NATO command structures, where the United States is the dominant force.
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The Pentagon is thirsting for a success story amid growing fears about North Korea’s escalating capability.
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The GAO said too many unanswered questions remained about the new vessel’s cost and capabilities.
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The Pentagon is thirsting for a success story amid growing fears about North Korea's escalating capability.
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Doing so would require Moscow to expose its most sophisticated communications capabilities - which are likely housed in highly secure locations at diplomatic compounds - to an American.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'capability'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of capability
see capable
CAPABILITY Defined for English Language Learners
capability
playDefinition of capability for English Language Learners
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: the ability to do something
CAPABILITY Defined for Kids
Learn More about capability
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See words that rhyme with capability Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for capability Spanish Central: Translation of capability Nglish: Translation of capability for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of capability for Arabic speakers
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