power

Pluralpowers

Formspowers, powering, powered

1. 1
   official authoritynouncountable or uncountable

   Control or influence over other people or events, or the authority to govern and command.

   Congress holds the power to declare war.

   The board stripped the founder of his executive power.

   UsageYou have power over people. Parties come to power, seize power or are in power.

   Similarauthority, control, influence, command, sway

   Note

   Authority as something held, granted, seized or lost: a nominal president may lack real power, and a founder can strip his own daughter of all power in his business. Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four gives it its starkest form: power sought for its own sake, not wealth or happiness. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The founder-and-daughter example is supported by fictional dialogue in Robert Barr's Lord Stranleigh Abroad. gutenberg.org
   • George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. gutenberg.net.au
   • The novel depicts power pursued for itself rather than wealth or happiness; O’Brien expresses this position on behalf of the Party. gutenberg.net.au
2. 2
   electricitynouncountable or uncountable

   Electricity, or the supply of electricity delivered to homes, businesses, and equipment.

   The hospital switched to backup generators when the power failed.

   Restoring power to the flooded district took crews several days.

   UsageCommon phrases: lose power, the power is out, restore power, power cut.

   Similarelectricity, current, energy, supply

   Note

   The everyday narrowing of the energy sense to electricity. Placed after its source, it names how the electricity is made, as in solar power. The Economist sets solar power against the grid, the supply most homes draw on. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The Economist compares solar power with grid electricity, as confirmed by the article excerpt reproduced in Wiktionary. en.wiktionary.org
   • Grid electricity supplies most homes; this is supported by inference from the reported worldwide extent of grid connections. en.wikipedia.org
3. 3
   nouncountable

   An ability or capacity to do something or to have a particular effect.

   Storytelling holds a power that dry facts never will.

   She has remarkable powers of persuasion.

   UsageOften plural with of: powers of persuasion, powers of observation. Also the power to + verb.

   Similarability, capacity, capability, faculty, force

   Note

   Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) shows the older idiom in the power of, meaning within the ability of. An incident there reveals character better than is in the power of the longest dissertation. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones. en.wikipedia.org
   • Tom Jones was first published in 1749, as dated on its first-edition title page. en.wikisource.org
   • The novel's narrator uses 'in the power of' to mean 'within the ability of', saying an incident reveals character better than a lengthy dissertation could. gutenberg.org
4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To supply a machine or device with the energy it needs to work; also, to be the driving force behind something.

   Solar panels power the entire research station.

   A single turbine powers thousands of homes.

   UsageOften passive with by: powered by batteries. Compounds are common: solar-powered, battery-powered.

   Similarrun, drive, fuel, energize

   Note

   It stretches easily from machines to ideas, teams and economies, as when strong exports power a recovery.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The physical force or strength of a body or movement.

   The river's current swept the logs away with tremendous power.

   She swung the axe with all the power in her arms.

   Similarforce, strength, might, energy, vigor

   Oppositeweakness, feebleness

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The rate at which energy is transferred or work is performed, measured as energy per unit of time.

   Running up the stairs takes more power than walking up, even though you do the same work.

   Filling the tower tank in an hour instead of three takes a pump with much more power.

   Similarwattage, output

   Note

   The physicist's quantity is defined as a rate: not how much energy, but how fast it moves. A kilowatt is 1,000 joules per second, so a heater's rating says nothing about the energy it uses until you know how long it runs. Everyday speech blurs this with electricity itself, as when a data center is said to consume power. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • Physical power is the rate of doing work or transferring energy. en.wikipedia.org
   • One kilowatt equals 1,000 watts. eia.gov
   • One watt equals one joule per second, making one kilowatt 1,000 joules per second. nist.gov
   • A power rating alone does not determine total energy consumption; operating duration is also needed. eia.gov
7. 7
   strong nationnounmetonymicallycountable or uncountable

   A nation, company, or other body that is strong or highly influential.

   Britain was the dominant naval power of the era.

   Several emerging powers are reshaping global trade.

   UsageUsually with an adjective: a naval power, a world power, the great powers.

   Similarforce, heavyweight, giant

   Note

   Like power as the government, a metonym, but this time a nation or company is named for the strength it has. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The government sense of ‘power’ is metonymic. en.wiktionary.org
   • Calling a strong nation or company a ‘power’ is metonymic. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nouncountable or uncountablebefore a noun

   Used before a noun to designate someone who does something forcefully or on a large, grand scale.

   During the holiday sales, my sister turns into a power shopper, working through six stores before most people have finished breakfast.

   Desperate for runs, the team signed a power hitter who had led the league in home runs two years in a row.

   UsageWritten open as two words: power user, power walker, power hitter.

   Note

   An attributive use that works almost like a prefix. Placed before a noun naming a role, it marks someone who does that thing intensely or on a big scale: a power shopper who knows all the best deals, a power user who needs a high-spec computer.

9. 9
   noununcountable

   Energy that drives machines or vehicles, or makes things move, taken from sources like wind, water, steam, fuel, or muscle.

   Early factories were built beside fast streams to harness their power for the looms.

   Steam engines supplied the power that drove the first railroads.

   UsageUsually named by its source: wind power, water power, steam power, muscle power.

   Similarenergy

   Note

   Everyday speech blurs a line that physics keeps sharp. In the physicist's rate of work, power is energy per unit of time, so a careful technical writer says a reservoir holds energy and a turbine delivers power. When the supply is electrical, ordinary English shifts to the electricity meaning. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • In physics, power is the rate of energy transfer: energy per unit time. energy.gov
   • A reservoir stores energy. bchydro.com
   • A turbine delivers power. energy.gov
10. 10
    adjective

    Describing a device that is driven or assisted by an electric motor or an engine, so it need not be worked by hand or muscle alone.

    She traded her handsaw for a power saw and finished the deck in half the time.

    Power windows were once a luxury option, but most new cars now come with them.

    UsageGoes before a noun: power tool, power steering. After a verb, say powered or electric: the saw is electric.

    Similarelectric, motorized

    Oppositemanual

    Note

    Many of these compounds have a hand-worked partner, and the pair tells the whole story: a power saw and a handsaw, a power drill and a hand drill. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Saws have both powered and hand-worked forms. en.wikipedia.org
    • Drills have both powered and hand-worked forms. en.wikipedia.org

Showing meanings only. Show all 26