# energy

Pronunciation: US say "EN-ur-jee" /ˈɛnəɹd͡ʒi/; UK say "EN-uh-jee" /ˈɛnəd͡ʒi/

## Noun

1. The capacity to do work or be active: in people, physical and mental strength and vigor; in physics, a quantity that can be stored, transferred, or converted but not created or destroyed, measured in joules.
   - Simple: The strength to be active and do things, or in science, the power that makes things move, heat up, or change.
   - _I don't have the energy to cook tonight after that long shift._
   - _The machine converts stored energy into motion._
2. The driving force behind all motion and all activity.
   - Simple: The force that makes all movement and activity happen.
   - _Philosophers once imagined a universal energy stirring every particle into motion._
   - _He described love as the energy behind all human action._
3. The mood, atmosphere, or feeling that seems to come from a person, place, or situation, often described as positive or negative; in some New Age beliefs, a force that flows between people and things.
   - Simple: The feeling or mood that a person or place gives you, like good or bad energy.
   - _After the argument, the negative energy lingered in the house for days._
   - _Healers claim they can pass positive energy to a patient through their hands._
5. In games, a resource that caps the number of actions a player or unit may take, often called magic points or mana in fantasy settings.
   - Simple: Points in a game that show how many actions a player can take.
   - _Her character ran out of energy before the boss fight ended._
   - _Players regain energy by resting between battles._
4. Power in a usable form, for example electricity, gas or fuel, supplied to give heat and light or to run machines; also, the industry that provides it.
   - Simple: Power such as electricity or gas that we use for heat, light and machines, or the business that sells it.
   - _The government promised to help households cope with rising energy costs._
   - _He spent twenty years working in energy before he moved into politics._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The outward actions and influences that flow from a thing's inner nature (ousia) and make it manifest, not the nature itself; the aspect by which it affects the world and is perceived by others.

## Origin

Ancient Greek en ("in") and érgon ("work") formed energós ("active"), which gave enérgeia ("activity"). The word passed through Late Latin energia and Middle French énergie into English. In 1802 the English polymath Thomas Young introduced the physics sense in his lectures on Natural Philosophy.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/energy (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).