keɪpəˈbɪləti kəˈpæsɪti ˈkɔn.tɛnt a specified function he was employed in the capacity of director he should be retained in his present capacity at a higher salary the maximum production possible the plant is working at 80 per cent capacity tolerance for alcohol he had drunk beyond his capacity capability to perform or produce among his gifts is his capacity for true altruism limited runway capacity a great capacity for growth the power to learn or retain knowledge; in law, the ability to understand the facts and significance of your behavior an electrical phenomenon whereby an electric charge is stored (computer science) the amount of information (in bytes) that can be stored on a disk drive the capacity of a hard disk drive is usually expressed in megabytes the amount that can be contained the gas tank has a capacity of 12 gallons the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment the capability of a metal to be fused