Capitalises

Capitalises is the third-person singular present tense of the verb capitalise, a British English form used in many Commonwealth countries. The verb has several related senses. In typography, to capitalise means to convert letters to uppercase, such as capitalising the initial letter of a sentence. In finance and accounting, to capitalise means to treat a cost or expenditure as a capital asset rather than an immediate expense, or to provide capital for a project. The phrase capitalise on something means to take advantage of a favorable situation or opportunity; in American English this is commonly written capitalize on.

Etymology and variants: capitalise derives from the noun capital with the productive suffix -ise, reflecting its relationship to capital as wealth or assets. The corresponding noun is capitalisation in British English and capitalization in American English, reflecting standard American/British spelling differences.

Usage notes: The main distinction is spelling rather than meaning, with American English favoring capitalize and capitalization, and British English favoring capitalise and capitalisation. The term is widely used in business, finance, law, linguistics, and technology contexts, as well as in everyday writing when describing text transformation or financial accounting practices.

Examples: Capitalise the first word of each line. The company plans to capitalise the cost of the new equipment. They capitalised on a market rebound to launch the product.