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capital flight

Definition of Capital Flight

(noun) The flow (flight) of capital away from one country or investment into another.

Examples of Capital Flight

  • Investors moving money out of the stock market in countries affected by war.
  • Moving currency from one country to another to avoid inflation.

Capital Flight Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: cap·i·tal flight

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /kAp-uht-l flIEt/
  • British English – /kAp-itl flIEt/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ˈkæpətəl flaɪt/
  • British English – /ˈkæpɪtl flaɪt/

Usage Note

  • Plural: capital flights

Additional Information

Related Terms

Works Consulted

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.

Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).

Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.

Cite the Definition of Capital Flight

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “capital flight.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/capital-flight/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

capital flight. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/capital-flight/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “capital flight.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/capital-flight/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“capital flight.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/capital-flight/>.