capitalism

/ˈkapɪt(ə)lɪz(ə)m/US/ˈkæp.ə.təlˌɪzm̩/

capitalism noun: a socio-economic system based on private ownership of resources, and capital and their exploitation for profit.

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Noun

capitalism (countable and uncountable, plural capitalisms)

A socio-economic system based on private ownership of resources, and capital and their exploitation for profit.
- What this war has demonstrated is that private capitalism—that is, an economic system in which land, factories, mines and transport are owned privately and operated solely for profit—does not work. It cannot deliver the goods. This fact had been known to millions of people for years past, but...1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II
- The peasantry have long since disappeared, the independent shopkeeper is being destroyed, the small business-man is diminishing in numbers. But at the same time modern industry is so complicated that it cannot get along without great numbers of managers, salesmen, engineers, chemists and...1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I
1. (Marxism) An economic system based on private control of the means of production and the exploitation of labour by capital.
2. An economic system based on private property and the abstraction of resources into the form of privately owned capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.

capitalism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

capitalism in Hindi

socio-economic system based on the abstraction of resources: पूंजीवाद pūñjīvād
socio-economic system based on private property rights: पूंजीवाद pūñjīvād

capitalism in Tamil

முதலாளித்துவம், முதலாளியம், முதலீட்டியம், முதலியம், பொருள் முதன்மையம்

capitalism in Marathi

socio-economic system based on the abstraction of resources: भांडवलशाही bhāṇḍvalśāhī
socio-economic system based on private property rights: भांडवलशाही bhāṇḍvalśāhī

capitalism in Urdu

socio-economic system based on private property rights: سَرْمایَہ داری sarmāya dārī, سَرْمایَہ دارانَہ نِظام sarmāya dārāna nizām

More languagesFewer languages

capitalism in Bengali: পুঁজিবাদ pũjibad
capitalism in Telugu: పెట్టుబడిదారీ peṭṭubaḍidārī
capitalism in Malayalam: മുതലാളിത്തം mutalāḷittaṁ
capitalism in Kannada: ಬಂಡವಾಳಶಾಹಿ, ಬಂಡವಾಳ ಪ್ರಾಬಲ್ಯ, ಬಂಡವಾಳಗಾರರ ಪ್ರಾಬಲ್ಯ, ಬಂಡವಾಳ ಪದ್ಧತಿ
capitalism in Punjabi: ਪੂੰਜੀਵਾਦ pūñjīvād
capitalism in Gujarati: મૂડીવાદ mūṛīvād
capitalism in Sinhala: ධනවාදය dhanawādaya
capitalism in Assamese: পুঁজিবাদ pũzibad
capitalism in Pashto: کاپيتاليزم kāpitlízm, سرمايه داري sarmāya dārí, پانګوالي pāngwālí
capitalism in Tagalog: puhunanan
capitalism in Arabic: رَأْسْمَالِيَّة raʔsmāliyya
capitalism in Malay: faham kapitalis, kapitalisme
capitalism in Indonesian: kapitalisme
capitalism in Thai: (ลัทธิ~)ทุนนิยม tun-ní-yom, ลัทธินายทุน lát-tí-naai-tun
capitalism in Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa tư bản
capitalism in Myanmar: အရင်းရှင်ဝါဒ a.rang:hrang-wada.
Kashmiri: سَرمایہِ دٲری sarmāyi-dạ̄rī

Examples of capitalism in a sentence

What this war has demonstrated is that private capitalism—that is, an economic system in which land, factories, mines and transport are owned privately and operated solely for profit—does not work.1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II:
The tendency of advanced capitalism has therefore been to enlarge the middle class and not to wipe it out as it once seemed likely to do.1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I:

All 40 example sentences with capitalism

Forms of capitalism

plural	capitalisms

Plural of capitalism: capitalisms

Origin of capitalism

Borrowed from French capitalisme (“the condition of one who is rich”); equivalent to capital + -ism. Derived from Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-. First used in English by novelist William Thackeray in The Newcomes [1854-1855].

Questions about capitalism

What does capitalism mean?: Capitalism means a socio-economic system based on private ownership of resources, and capital and their exploitation for profit.
What is capitalism in Hindi?: Capitalism in Hindi is पूंजीवाद (pūñjīvād). See Capitalism meaning in Hindi.
How do you use capitalism in a sentence?: What this war has demonstrated is that private capitalism—that is, an economic system in which land, factories, mines and transport are owned privately and operated solely for profit—does not work.
What part of speech is capitalism?: Capitalism is a noun.
How do you pronounce capitalism?: Capitalism is pronounced /ˈkapɪt(ə)lɪz(ə)m/ (UK).
What is the plural of capitalism?: The plural of capitalism is capitalisms.

Words near capitalism in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: capitalism (page history and authors); capitalism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); capitalism (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪੂੰਜੀਵਾਦ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); મૂડીવાદ (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-capitalism.wav.

Cite this entry: “capitalism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/capitalism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.