Power Definition

power

English

Alternative forms

• powre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English poer, from Old French poer, from Medieval Latin *potere, for Latin posse (“to be able”); see potent.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /paʊə(ɹ)/, SAMPA: /paU@/
• (GenAm) IPA: /paʊɚ/, SAMPA: /paU@`/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aʊər
• Hyphenation: pow‧er

Noun

power (countable and uncountable; plural powers)

1. (countable) capability or influence.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book III, chapter ii

   An incident which happened about this time will set the characters of these two lads more fairly before the discerning reader than is in the power of the longest dissertation.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book III, chapter iii

   Thwackum, on the contrary, maintained that the human mind, since the fall, was nothing but a sink of iniquity, till purified and redeemed by grace. ... The favourite phrase of the former, was the natural beauty of virtue; that of the latter, was the divine power of grace.

   1998, Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

   Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present.

2. (uncountable) physical force or strength.

   He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium.

3. control, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction)

   2005, Columbia Law Review, April

   In the face of expanding federal power, California in particular struggled to maintain control over its Chinese population.

4. (uncountable) electricity or a supply of electricity.

   After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days.

5. (uncountable, physics) A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
6. (uncountable, physics) A rate to magnify an optical image by a lens or mirror.

   We need a microscope with higher power.

7. (biblical) In Christian angelology, the fourth level of angels, ranked above archangels and below principalities
8. (mathematics) A product of equal factors. Notation and usage: xⁿ, read as "x to the power of n" or "x to the nth power", denotes x × x × ... × x, in which x appears n times, where n is called the exponent; the definition is extended to non-integer and complex exponents.
9. (set theory) Cardinality.
10. (statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "power": electric, nuclear, solar, optical, mechanical, political, absolute, corporate, institutional, military, economic, solar, magic, magical, huge, physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, sexual, seductive, coercive, erotic, natural, cultural, positive, negative, etc.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:power

Antonyms

• impotence
• weakness

Derived terms

Related terms

• possible
• potent

Verb

power (third-person singular simple present powers, present participle powering, simple past and past participle powered)

1. (transitive) To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device).

   This CD player is powered by batteries.

2. (transitive) To hit or kick something forcefully.
   • 2011 February 1, Mandeep Sanghera, “Man Utd 3 - 1 Aston Villa”, BBC:

     United keeper Edwin van der Sar was the unlikely provider as his clearance found Rooney, who had got ahead of last defender Richard Dunne, and the forward brilliantly controlled a ball coming from over his shoulder before powering a shot past Brad Friedel.

Derived terms

• power down
• power up
• empower

Translations

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: large · within · room · #263: power · mother · often · themselves

External links

• power at OneLook Dictionary Search

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