Definition

1. Verb:
   • To write or print using capital letters: To use uppercase letters for writing or printing text.
   • To provide a business with capital: To supply money or financial resources to start or run a company.
   • To convert into capital or treat as capital: In finance, to treat an expenditure as a long-term investment (capital asset) rather than an immediate expense, or to convert assets or reserves into capital.
   • To take advantage of a situation: To gain a benefit from a particular circumstance or opportunity.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:
  • Please capitalise the first letter of each sentence. (Use an uppercase letter at the beginning.)
  • The investors agreed to capitalise the new startup. (They provided the necessary funding.)
  • The company decided to capitalise the cost of the new machinery over five years. (They treated the purchase as a capital asset to be depreciated.)
  • A good politician knows how to capitalise on public sentiment. (They know how to gain advantage from it.)

Advanced Usage

• "To capitalise on something": To use a situation or opportunity to gain an advantage for oneself.
  • The team capitalised on their opponent's error to score a goal.
• In Accounting/Finance: "To capitalise an asset" means to record a cost as an asset on the balance sheet, rather than as an expense on the income statement.
  • Development costs can be capitalised if certain criteria are met.

Variants and Related Words

• Capitalization (Noun): The action of writing in capital letters or providing capital.
  • The capitalization of the company was insufficient.
• Capital (Noun): Wealth in the form of money or assets, or a city serving as a seat of government.
  • They needed more capital to expand.
• Capitalist (Noun/Adjective): A person who invests capital, or relating to an economic system based on private ownership.

Synonyms

• Finance: Fund, back, subsidize.
• Exploit: Utilize, benefit from, take advantage of.
• Write in capitals: Put in uppercase.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Capitalise on: This is the primary phrasal construction, meaning to profit from or use something to one's advantage.
  • She capitalised on her language skills to get the job.

Related Idioms

• "To make capital out of something": Similar to "capitalise on," meaning to use a situation to gain an advantage, often with a slightly negative connotation of exploitation.
  • He made political capital out of the crisis.

Verb

1. convert (a company's reserve funds) into capital
2. consider expenditures as capital assets rather than expenses
3. compute the present value of a business or an income
4. write in capital letters
5. draw advantages from
   • he is capitalizing on her mistake
   • she took advantage of his absence to meet her lover
6. supply with capital, as of a business by using a combination of capital used by investors and debt capital provided by lenders