capacious

English

WOTD – 29 November 2013, 30 April 2014, 29 November 2014

Etymology

From Latin capāx (“wide, spacious, large; capable”) +‎ -ious. Displaced native Old English numol.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈpeɪʃəs/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

capacious (comparative more capacious, superlative most capacious)

1. Having a lot of space inside; roomy.
   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, chapter V, in For the Term of His Natural Life:

     The Malabar, that huge sea monster, in whose capacious belly so many human creatures lived and suffered, had dwindled to a walnut-shell, and yet beside her bulk how infinitely small had their own frail cockboat appeared as they shot out from under her towering stern!

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 1, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “Do I fidget you ?” he asked apologetically, whilst his long bony fingers buried themselves, string, knots, and all, into the capacious pockets of his magnificent tweed ulster.

   • 1953 April, “Reviving U.S.A. Passenger Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 218:

     Profitable operation is being made possible by the widespread introduction of capacious diesel railcars, which for their comfort and speed are very popular with the travelling public.

1. Capable, able.
   • 1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The War of Independence”, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 185:

     [T]he fresh brave school-life, so full of games, adventures, and good fellowship, so ready at forgetting, so capacious at enjoying, so bright at forecasting, outweighed a thousandfold their troubles with the master of their form, and the occasional ill-usage of the big boys in the house.

Synonyms

• (roomy): ample, commodious, roomy, spacious, voluminous

Derived terms

• capaciously
• capaciousness
• incapacious
• uncapacious

 

Related terms

• capable
• capacity

Translations

having a lot of space inside

• Arabic: مُتَّسِع m (muttasiʕ)
• Bulgarian: просторен (bg) (prostoren), обемист (bg) (obemist)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: rummelig
• Dutch: ruim (nl)
• Finnish: tilava (fi)
• French: capace (fr)
• German: geräumig (de)
• Greek: ευρύχωρος (el) (evrýchoros)
• Irish: dea-láin
• Italian: capace (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: fireh (ku)

• Latin: capax
• Maori: ngakengake
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rommelig

• Old English: numol
• Portuguese: espaçoso (pt)
• Russian: вмести́тельный (ru) (vmestítelʹnyj), просто́рный (ru) (prostórnyj), объёмистый (ru) (obʺjómistyj)
• Spanish: espacioso (es)
• Swedish: rymlig (sv), spatiös (sv)
• Ukrainian: просто́рий (prostóryj), містки́й (mistkýj)