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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Capacity \Ca*pac"i*ty\ (k[.a]*p[a^]s"[i^]*t[y^]), noun; pl. {Capacities} (-t[i^]z). [L. capacitus, fr. capax, capacis; fr. F. capacit['e]. See {Capacious}.]
1. The power of receiving or containing; extent of room or space; passive power; -- used in reference to physical things.
Had our great palace the capacity To camp this host, we all would sup together. --Shak.
The capacity of the exhausted cylinder. --Boyle.
2. The power of receiving and holding ideas, knowledge, etc.; the comprehensiveness of the mind; the receptive faculty; capability of understanding or feeling.
Capacity is now properly limited to these [the mere passive operations of the mind]; its primary signification, which is literally room for, as well as its employment, favors this; although it can not be denied that there are examples of its usage in an active sense. --Sir W. Hamilton.
3. Ability; power pertaining to, or resulting from, the possession of strength, wealth, or talent; possibility of being or of doing.
The capacity of blessing the people. --Alex. Hamilton.
A cause with such capacities endued. --Blackmore.
4. Outward condition or circumstances; occupation; profession; character; position; as, to work in the capacity of a mason or a carpenter.
5. (Law) Legal or moral qualification, as of age, residence, character, etc., necessary for certain purposes, as for holding office, for marrying, for making contracts, wills, etc.; legal power or right; competency.
{Capacity for heat}, the power of absorbing heat. Substances differ in the amount of heat requisite to raise them a given number of thermometric degrees, and this difference is the measure of, or depends upon, what is called their capacity for heat. See {Specific heat}, under {Heat}.
Syn: Ability; faculty; talent; capability; skill; efficiency; cleverness. See {Ability}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
capacity
noun
1: ability to perform or produce [ant: {incapacity}]
2: the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment; "the capability of a metal to be fused" [syn: {capability}]
3: the amount that can be contained; "the gas tank has a capacity of 12 gallons" [syn: {content}]
4: the maximum production possible; "the plant is working at 80 per cent capacity"
5: a specified function; "he was employed in the capacity of director"; "he should be retained in his present capacity at a higher salary"
6: (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"
7: an electrical phenomenon whereby an electric charge is stored [syn: {capacitance}, {electrical capacity}]
8: the power to learn or retain knowledge; in law, the ability to understand the facts and significance of your behavior [syn: {mental ability}] [ant: {incapacity}]
9: tolerance for alcohol; "he had drunk beyond his capacity"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
260 Moby Thesaurus words for "capacity": IQ, SRO, ability, ableness, accommodation, acumen, address, adeptness, adequacy, adroitness, airmanship, amplitude, apprehension, aptitude, artfulness, artisanship, artistry, bellyful, bent, brains, bravura, brilliance, brimful, brimming, bulging, bump, bumper, burden, bursting, caliber, capability, capableness, capaciousness, capacitance, capital, character, charge, chock-full, chuck-full, cleverness, collector junction capacitance, command, commodiousness, competence, competency, complement, comprehension, conception, condition, congested, consciousness, content, control, coordination, cordage, craft, craftsmanship, cram, cram-full, crammed, crush, cunning, deductive power, deftness, devices, dexterity, dexterousness, dextrousness, dimensions, diplomacy, disposable resources, dower, dowry, duty, efficacy, efficiency, emitter junction capacitance, endowment, equipment, esemplastic power, expansiveness, expertise, extensiveness, facility, faculties, faculty, farad, farci, fill, filled, finesse, fitness, flair, flush, footing, forte, full, full house, full measure, full to bursting, function, funds, genius, gift, grace, grip, handiness, horsemanship, ideation, ingeniousness, ingenuity, instinct, integrative power, intellect, intellectual gifts, intellectual grasp, intellectual power, intellectualism, intellectuality, intellectuals, intelligence, intelligence quotient, jam up, jam-packed, job, judgement, knack, know-how, knowledge, lading, limit, load, long suit, makings, marksmanship, mastership, mastery, means, measure, mental age, mental capacity, mental grasp, mental ratio, mentality, method, metier, might, mother wit, mouthful, native wit, natural endowment, natural gift, office, overfull, overstuffed, packed, packed like sardines, part, parts, perception, perceptiveness, perspicacity, place, plenary, position, post, potential, poundage, power, power of mind, powers, practical ability, proficiency, province, prowess, qualification, quality, quantity, quickness, rank, rationality, readiness, ready to burst, reasoning power, recourses, relation, replete, resistance capacitance, resorts, resource, resourcefulness, resources, responsibility, role, room, roominess, round, sanity, satiated, saturated, savoir-faire, savvy, scope of mind, seamanship, sense, senses, situation, size, skill, skillfulness, skinful, snootful, soaked, space, spaciousness, speciality, sphere, standing, standing room only, state, station, status, stock, stowage, strong flair, strong point, stuffed, style, sufficiency, supply, surfeited, susceptibility, swollen, tact, tactfulness, talent, talents, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill, technique, the goods, the stuff, thinking power, timing, tonnage, topful, twin, understanding, virtuosity, volume, ways, ways and means, what it takes, wherewith, wherewithal, wit, wits, wizardry, workmanship
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
capacity The maximum possible {data transfer rate} of a communications channel under ideal conditions. The total capacity of a channel may be shared between several independent data streams using some kind of {multiplexing}, in which case, each stream's data rate may be limited to a fixed fraction of the total capacity. (2001-05-22)
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