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carrying capacity

Definition of Carrying Capacity

(noun) The amount of people that an area of land can support based on the amount of available resources.

Carrying Capacity Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: car·ry·ing ca·pac·i·ty

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /kAIR-ee-ing kuh-pAs-uh-tee/
  • British English – /kAr-iing kuh-pAs-i-tee/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ˈkæriɪŋ kəˈpæsəti/
  • British English – /ˈkæriɪŋ kəˈpæsɪti/

Usage Note

  • Plural: carrying capacities

Additional Information

Related Terms

Works Consulted

Chase-Dunn, Christopher, and Bruce Lerro. 2014. Social Change: Globalization from the Stone Age to the Present. New York: Routledge.

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/).

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).

Cite the Definition of Carrying Capacity

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “carrying capacity.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved December 14, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/carrying-capacity/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

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

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

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “carrying capacity.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/carrying-capacity/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“carrying capacity.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/carrying-capacity/>.