Capture

How to spell capture

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce capture

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does capture mean?

1. verbTo take or seize someone or something by force, or to record or represent something accurately.
2. nounThe act of seizing, taking, or recording something.

Capture in a sentence

• verb

  The soldiers planned to capture the bridge before dawn.

• noun

  The capture of the fugitive made the evening news.

• verb

  The new microphone can capture even the faintest sound in the room.

• noun

  Data capture at the checkout speeds up the whole transaction.

Where does capture come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Capture comes from the Latin verb capere, which literally meant 'to take', 'to seize', or 'to catch hold of'. From its past participle captus came the Latin noun captura, meaning the act of catching, especially the catching of animals or prey. English took the word through French in the late 1500s, at first as a noun for the act of seizing a person, place, or thing by force, and only later, in the 1700s, did it settle in as a verb. The same capere root quietly powers a whole family of English words, including 'captive', 'capable', 'accept', and even 'recipe'. Because the spelling preserves that Latin -ture ending rather than a plainer -cher sound, writers must remember it is spelled with -ture, matching its cousins 'rapture' and 'fracture'.

How the word is built

• capt- (from capere: to seize, take)
• -ure (noun/verb suffix forming an act or result)