market capitalization

noun

variants or market cap

plural market capitalizations or market caps

: the dollar value of a company's outstanding shares of stock that is calculated by multiplying the total number of available shares by the current stock price and that is used in estimating a company's value

With a market capitalization of around $36 billion this week, dogecoin is the original and most valuable meme coin …

—Lisa Bonos

The stock opened at 17. … By afternoon it dropped to 12¼. … The company lost $23 million in market capitalization in one day.

—William Cobb

… a publicly traded hospitality giant with a market cap topping $40.2 billion …

—Daniel J. Sernovitz

Examples of market capitalization in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For perspective, that is more than General Motors’ market capitalization, the one-time largest company in the world, and even now still the 23rd largest company on the Fortune 500 list. — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026

The stock declines meant that Nike’s market capitalization was no longer representative of the S&P 100 range. — Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 25 Sep. 2026

The market capitalization of the entire VW Group followed a similarly dire trajectory, dropping by more than 60 percent in real terms between the end of 2015 and the second quarter of 2026. — Andrew McAfee, Foreign Affairs, 23 Sep. 2026

Chip giant Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world as measured by market capitalization, has seen shares climb 18%. — Max Zahn, ABC News, 18 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for market capitalization

• deindustrialization
• immunoprecipitation
• individualisation
• individualization
• institutionalisation
• institutionalization
• internationalization
• neovascularization
• operationalization
• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration