capability

n. ability, skill, general ability or power of an organization or a machine to be used to do something or to do something

Capability is the ability to perform actions. In human terms capability is the sum of expertise and capacity. It is part of the theories of Capability-based security in computingThe Capability approach in welfare economics. The word capability is widely used within the defence sector -- for its use in this context see Capability Management.
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Noun
1. the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally; "he worked to the limits of his capability"
(synonym) capableness
(antonym) incapability, incapableness
(hypernym) ability
(hyponym) associability, associableness
(attribute) capable
2. the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment; "the capability of a metal to be fused"
(synonym) capacity
(hypernym) susceptibility, susceptibleness
(hyponym) activity
3. an aptitude that may be developed
(synonym) capableness, potentiality
(antonym) incapability, incapableness
(hypernym) aptitude
(hyponym) perfectibility, perfectability
(attribute) capable

(n.)
The quality of being capable; capacity; capableness; esp. intellectual power or ability.
  

(n.)
Capacity of being used or improved.
  

<operating system, security> An operating system security or access control model where specific types of access to a specific object are granted by giving a process this data structure or token.
The token may be unforgeable (typically by using encryption or hardware "tagged" memory). Capabilities are used in OSes such as Hydra, KeyKOS, EROS, Chorus/Mix, and the Stanford V system. Similar to Kerberos, but in an OS context.
Compare access control list.
(1998-03-08)