The meaning of “act in capacity”

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As a society, we need young people to follow good role models, and so celebrities need to understand that accepting money from advertising means that they are acting in this capacity.

What does the phrase " acting in this capacity" mean?

As far as I know, in this context, "act" means perform/do sth.

The Collins dictionary explains the meaning of "capacity" as: If you do something in a particular capacity, you do it as part of a particular job or duty, or because you are representing a particular organization or person.

The meaning of the whole phrase stills remains vague to me though

Best Answer

If you are "acting in a given capacity" you are performing the function defined by the capacity, the "capacity" being a previously defined position in a society or organisation.

For example if the mayor of a town has resigned and there has not yet been an election for a new one another councillor might perform the duties of the mayor for a while without actually having the title. In that case the councillor would be "acting in the capacity of mayor".

The problem with the sentence as it stands is that the "capacity" is not very well defined. It is possible that a previous sentence has defined it well or that the writer is referring to advertising or to role models as suggested by Kate Bunting.

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