capitalism

capitalism — noun

1. a way of organising a country's economy in which factories, land, and most compa

1.nounC2
Definition

a way of organising a country's economy in which factories, land, and most companies belong to individuals or groups of investors instead of the government, and where what gets produced and sold is shaped mainly by competition among sellers seeking profit.

Example

Many high-school textbooks describe capitalism as a system built on private ownership and competing firms.

definitional pattern: 'capitalism as a system built on...'

Under capitalism, a baker can decide what bread to make and what price to charge.

preposition: under capitalism (typical framing)

Common collocations
  • modern capitalism
  • global capitalism
  • industrial capitalism
  • late capitalism
  • the rise of capitalism
  • under capitalism
Synonyms
  • free enterprise

    emphasises the freedom of private firms to operate with little government control

  • free market

    highlights the role of supply and demand setting prices, rather than ownership

  • market economy

    neutral, technical term often preferred in economics writing

Antonyms
  • socialism

    system in which the government or community owns the main industries

  • communism

    stronger contrast — abolishes private ownership of productive property

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable and used without an article ('under capitalism', 'in a capitalism' is wrong). Often appears with a descriptive adjective ('industrial / global / modern / late capitalism') that names a stage or version of the system.

Common Mistakes

She studies a capitalism in Europe.
She studies capitalism in Europe.
capitalism is uncountable; do not use 'a/an' before it.
My uncle owns a small capitalism in Taipei.
My uncle owns a small business in Taipei.
capitalism names the whole system, not a single company.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe economies driven by private decisions rather than central planning, but they focus on different parts of the picture. 'Capitalism' is the broadest and most political term: it names the whole system, including who owns the factories and who keeps the profits, and is often used in debates about fairness and inequality. 'Free market' zooms in on price-setting through supply and demand, and is mostly neutral. 'Free enterprise' stresses the right of individuals to start and run businesses with little government interference, and tends to carry a positive tone in American writing. 'Market economy' is the most technical and neutral, common in textbooks and policy reports — for example, 'China is often described as a socialist market economy', whereas 'the United States is a clear example of capitalism' carries more ideological weight.

capitalism ↗free marketfree enterprisemarket economy

Common collocations

Nouns

  • the rise of capitalism
  • the spread of capitalism
  • a critic of capitalism
  • the history of capitalism

Phrases

  • modern capitalism
  • global capitalism
  • industrial capitalism
  • late capitalism
  • free-market capitalism

Prepositions

  • under capitalism
  • within capitalism

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Built from 'capital' (money or property used to produce more wealth, from Latin 'capitalis' meaning 'of the head' — a 'head' of cattle was an early form of wealth) plus the suffix '-ism', which turns a word into the name of a system or belief. The English word started appearing in the mid-1800s as writers, including critics like Karl Marx, needed a single label for the new industrial economy growing across Europe.