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Capacity vs Duty - What's the difference?

capacity | duty | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between capacity and duty

is that capacity is the ability to hold, receive or absorb while duty is that which one is morally or legally obligated to do.

As an adjective capacity

is filling the allotted space.

capacity

English

Noun

(capacities)
  • The ability to hold, receive or absorb
  • A measure of such ability; volume
  • The maximum amount that can be held
  • It was hauling a capacity load.
    The orchestra played to a capacity crowd.
  • Capability; the ability to perform some task
  • The maximum that can be produced.
  • Mental ability; the power to learn
  • A faculty; the potential for growth and development
  • A role; the position in which one functions
  • Legal authority (to make an arrest for example)
  • Electrical capacitance.
  • (operations) The maximum that can be produced on a machine or in a facility or group.
  • Its capacity''' rating was 150 tons per hour, but its actual maximum '''capacity was 200 tons per hour.

    Synonyms

    * throughput * See also

    Derived terms

    * capacitance * capacitation * capacitor

    Adjective

  • Filling the allotted space.
  • There will be a capacity crowd at Busch stadium for the sixth game.
  • * 2012 , August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal
  • At an overcast Eton Dorney, roared on by a capacity crowd including Prince Harry and Prince William, the volume rose as they entered the final stages.

    duty

    English

    Noun

    (duties)
  • That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.
  • :
  • *1805 , 21 October,
  • *:England expects that every man will do his duty .
  • *
  • *:Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty , cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
  • , title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.}}
  • A period of time spent at work or doing a particular task.
  • :
  • Describing a workload as to its idle, working and de-energized periods.
  • A tax placed on imports or exports; a tariff.
  • (lb) One's due, something one is owed; a debt or fee.
  • *1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) XX:
  • *:Take that which is thy duty , and goo thy waye.
  • (lb) Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:my duty to you
  • The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).
  • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "duty": public, private, moral, legal, social, double, civic, contractual, political, judicial, etc.

    Synonyms

    * (that which one is obligated to do) obligation

    Antonyms

    * duty-free (taxes) * (that which one is obligated to do) right

    Derived terms

    * active duty * chimney-duty * civic duty * death duty * Delivered Duty Paid * Delivered Duty Unpaid * dutiable * dutiful * duty-bound * duty calls * duty cycle * duty of care * estate duty * excise duty * export duty * fatigue duty * fiduciary duty * filial duty * heavy-duty * import duty * jury duty * legal duty * light-duty * line of duty * neglect duty * on duty * off duty * point duty * sea duty/sea-duty * shore duty * stamp duty * succession duty * tonnage duty * tour of duty

    Statistics

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