powered

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of power.

   Steam engines powered the early factories of the industrial age.

   The spacecraft was powered by solar panels during its long voyage.

   Note

   One spelling serves as both past tense and participle, and it carries every meaning of the verb, not only the mechanical one. With an object it can mean drove something forcefully, as in powered the ball into the net. Without one it means moved with great force or speed, as in powered past the defender. The passive with by, as in powered by solar panels, shades into the adjective for self-driven devices.

   She powered the ball into the top corner of the net.

   He powered past the last runner in the final stretch.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having its own source of power, or a particular named source that drives it.

   Powered flight requires an engine to keep the aircraft aloft.

   The battery-powered sensor runs for months without a wired connection.

   Similarmotorized, driven

   Oppositeunpowered, manual

   Note

   An either-or word: a device is powered or it is not, so nothing is "more powered" than another. Its natural partner is unpowered. John W. Diers and Aaron Isaacs's Twin Cities by Trolley (2007) describes stripping the motors from an old streetcar to make an unpowered trailer towed behind a powered car. Put a source in front and the word names what drives the device: battery-powered, solar-powered.

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