capacitance
n.n. the ability of a material or object to store an electric charge. It is measured in a unit called a farad.
n. the ability of a system to store an electric charge. It is defined as the ratio of the electric charge stored on a conductor to the potential difference applied to it.
The capacitor has a high capacitance to hold more charge.
Engineers must calculate the total capacitance of the circuit to ensure the power supply remains stable.
The capacitance of the parallel-plate capacitor increases as the distance between the plates decreases, following the inverse relationship dictated by the permittivity of the dielectric material.
From capacity + -ance.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated May 20, 2026