The quantity of electric charge that may be stored upon a body per unit electric potential; expressed in farads, abfarads, or statfarads.
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1 a) the property of an electric nonconductor that permits the storage of energy as a result of the separation of charge occurring when opposite surfaces of the nonconductor are maintained at a difference of potential
b) the measure of this property equal to the ratio of the charge on either surface to the potential difference between the surfaces
2) a part of a circuit or network that possesses capacitance
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ca·pac·i·tance (C) (kə-pasґĭ-təns) 1. the property of being able to store an electric charge. 2. the ratio of the charge stored by a capacitor to the voltage across the capacitor. Formerly called capacity. The SI unit of capacitance is the farad.Medical dictionary. 2011.