Definitions for power
ˈpaʊ ərpow·er

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 12 votes)Rate this definition:

1. power, powerfulnessnoun

   possession of controlling influence

   "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her"; "his powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade"

2. powernoun

   (physics) the rate of doing work; measured in watts (= joules/second)

3. ability, powernoun

   possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done

   "danger heightened his powers of discrimination"

4. office, powernoun

   (of a government or government official) holding an office means being in power

   "being in office already gives a candidate a great advantage"; "during his first year in office"; "during his first year in power"; "the power of the president"

5. power, forcenoun

   one possessing or exercising power or influence or authority

   "the mysterious presence of an evil power"; "may the force be with you"; "the forces of evil"

6. exponent, power, indexnoun

   a mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself

7. might, mightiness, powernoun

   physical strength

8. world power, major power, great power, power, superpowernoun

   a state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world

9. baron, big businessman, business leader, king, magnate, mogul, power, top executive, tycoonverb

   a very wealthy or powerful businessman

   "an oil baron"

10. powerverb

    supply the force or power for the functioning of

    "The gasoline powers the engines"

Wiktionary(3.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. powernoun

   physical force or strength.

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

2. powernoun

   control, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction)

   2005, Columbia Law Review, April

3. powernoun

   electricity or a supply of electricity.

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

4. powernoun

   A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.

5. powernoun

   A rate to magnify an optical image by a lens or mirror.

   We need a microscope with higher power.

6. powernoun

   In Christian angelology, the fourth level of angels, ranked above archangels and below principalities

7. powernoun

   A product of equal factors. Notation and usage: x, 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.

8. powernoun

   Cardinality.

9. powerverb

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

   This CD player is powered by batteries.

10. powerverb

    To hit or kick something forcefully.

11. powernoun

    The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.

12. Powernoun

    A button of a computer, a video game console, or similar device, that when pressed, causes the device to be either shut down or powered up.

13. Etymology: From power.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. POWERnoun

   Etymology: pouvoir, Fr.

   1. Command; authority; dominion; influence.

   If law, authority and pow’r deny not,
   It will go hard with poor Anthonio. William Shakespeare.

   No man could ever have a just power over the life of another, by right of property in land. John Locke.

   Power is no blessing in itself, but when it is employ’d to protect the innocent. Jonathan Swift.

   2. Influence; prevalence upon.

   This man had power with him, to draw him forth to his death. Francis Bacon, Essays.

   Dejected! no, it never shall be said,
   That fate had power upon a Spartan soul;
   My mind on its own centre stands unmov’d
   And stable, as the fabrick of the world. Dryden.

   3. Ability; force; reach.

   That which moveth God to work is goodness, and that which ordereth his work is wisdom, and that which perfecteth his work is power. Richard Hooker.

   I have suffer’d in your woe;
   Nor shall be wanting ought within my pow’r,
   For your relief in my refreshing bow’r. Dryden.

   You are still living to enjoy the blessings of all the good you have performed, and many prayers that your power of doing generous actions may be as extended as your will. Dry.

   It is not in the power of the most enlarged understanding, to invent one new simple idea in the mind, not taken in by the ways aforementioned. John Locke.

   ’Tis not in the power of want or slavery to make them miserable. Joseph Addison, Guardian.

   Though it be not in our power to make affliction no affliction; yet it is in our power to take off the edge of it, by a steady view of those divine joys prepared for us in another state. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.

   4. Strength; motive force.

   Observing in ourselves, that we can at pleasure move several parts of our bodies, which were at rest; the effects also that natural bodies are able to produce in one another, occurring every moment to our senses, we both these ways get the idea of power. John Locke.

   5. The moving force of an engine.

   By understanding the true difference betwixt the weight and the power, a man may add such a fitting supplement to the strength of the power, that it shall move any conceivable weight, though it should never so much exceed that force, which the power is naturally endowed with. John Wilkins.

   6. Animal strength; natural strength.

   Care, not fear; or fear not for themselves altered something the countenances of the two lovers: but so as any man might perceive, was rather an assembling of powers than dismayedness of courage. Philip Sidney, b. i.

   He died of great years, but of strong health and powers. Francis Bacon, Henry VII.

   7. Faculty of the mind.

   If ever
   You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy,
   Then you shall know the wounds invisible,
   That love’s keen arrows make. William Shakespeare.

   I was in the thought, they were not fairies, and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprize of my powers drove the grossness of the foppery into a received belief. William Shakespeare.

   In our little world, this soul of ours
   Being only one, and to one body ty’d,
   Doth use, on divers objects, divers powers;
   And so are her effects diversify’d. Davies.

   Maintain the empire of the mind over the body, and keep the appetites of the one in due subjection to the reasoning powers of the other. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.

   The design of this science is to rescue our reasoning powers from their unhappy slavery and darkness. Isaac Watts.

   8. Government; right of governing.

   My labour
   Honest and lawful, to deserve my food
   Of those who have me in their civil power. John Milton.

   9. Sovereign; potentate.

   ’Tis surprising to consider with what heats these two powers have contested their title to the kingdom of Cyprus, that is in the hands of the Turk. Joseph Addison, Remarks on Italy.

   10. One invested with dominion.

   After the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Mat.

   The fables turn’d some men to flow’rs,
   And others did with brutish forms invest;
   And did of others make celestial pow’rs,
   Like angels, which still travel, yet still rest. Davies.

   If there’s a pow’r above us,
   And that there is all nature cries aloud
   Through all her works, he must delight in virtue. Addis.

   11. Divinity.

   Merciful powers!
   Restrain in me the cursed thoughts, that nature
   Gives way to in repose. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   Cast down thyself, and only strive to raise
   The glory of thy maker’s sacred name;
   Use all thy pow’rs, that blessed pow’r to praise,
   Which gives thee pow’r to be and use the same. Davies.

   With indignation, thus he broke
   His awful silence, and the pow’rs bespoke. Dryden.

   Tell me,
   What are the gods the better for this gold?
   The wretch that offers from his wealthy store
   These presents, bribes the pow’rs to give him more. Dryd.

   12. Host; army; military force.

   He, to work him the more mischief, sent over his brother Edward with a power of Scots and Redshanks into Ireland, where they got footing. Edmund Spenser, State of Ireland.

   Never such a power,
   For any foreign preparation,
   Was levied in the body of a land. William Shakespeare, K. John.

   Young Octavius and Mark Antony
   Come down upon us with a mighty power,
   Bending their expedition tow’rd Philippi. William Shakespeare.

   Who leads his power?
   Under whose government come they along? William Shakespeare.

   My heart, dear Harry,
   Threw many a northward look, to see his father
   Bring up his pow’rs; but he did long in vain. William Shakespeare.

   Gazellus, upon the coming of the bassa, valiantly issued forth with all his power, and gave him battle. Richard Knolles.

   13. A large quantity; a great number. In low language: as, a power of good things.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Powernoun

   same as Poor, the fish

2. Powernoun

   ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power

3. Powernoun

   ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm

4. Powernoun

   capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive power; as, great power of endurance

5. Powernoun

   the exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government

6. Powernoun

   the agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity

7. Powernoun

   a military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host

8. Powernoun

   a large quantity; a great number; as, a power o/ good things

9. Powernoun

   the rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power

10. Powernoun

    a mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc

11. Powernoun

    applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the other end

12. Powernoun

    a machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power

13. Powernoun

    the product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number

14. Powernoun

    mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc

15. Powernoun

    the degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface

16. Powernoun

    an authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment

17. Powernoun

    hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power

18. Etymology: [OE. pouer, poer, OF. poeir, pooir, F. pouvoir, n. & v., fr. LL. potere, for L. posse, potesse, to be able, to have power. See Possible, Potent, and cf. Posse comitatus.]

Freebase(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Power

   In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. The unit of power is the joule per second, known as the watt. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit time. Energy transfer can be used to do work, so power is also the rate at which this work is performed. The same amount of work is done when carrying a load up a flight of stairs whether the person carrying it walks or runs, but more power is expended during the running because the work is done in a shorter amount of time. The output power of an electric motor is the product of the torque the motor generates and the angular velocity of its output shaft. The power expended to move a vehicle is the product of the traction force of the wheels and the velocity of the vehicle. The integral of power over time defines the work done. Because this integral depends on the trajectory of the point of application of the force and torque, this calculation of work is said to be path dependent.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Power

   pow′ėr, n. that in a person or a thing which enables them to act on other persons or things: strength: energy: faculty of the mind: any agency: moving force of anything: right to command: rule: authority: influence: ability: capacity of suffering: a ruler: a divinity: the result of the continued multiplication of a quantity by itself any given number of times: (optics) magnifying strength: (obs.) a great many.—adjs. Pow′ered, having power; Pow′erful, having great power: mighty: intense: forcible: efficacious.—adv. Pow′erfully.—ns. Pow′erfulness; Pow′er-house, a house where mechanical power (esp. electric) is generated.—adj. Pow′erless, without power: weak: impotent.—adv. Pow′erlessly.—ns. Pow′erlessness; Pow′er-loom, a loom worked by some mechanical power, as water, steam, &c.—Power of attorney (see Attorney); Power of sale, a clause in securities and wills empowering property referred to to be sold on certain conditions; Powers, or Great Powers (see Great).—Absolute power, power subject to no control by law; Civil power, power of governing a state; Mechanical powers (see Mechanical). [O. Fr. poer (Fr. pouvoir)—Low L. pot-ĕre, to be able.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. power

   Mechanical force; in the steam-engine it is esteemed effective, expansive, or full. (See HORSE-POWER.)

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. power

   In military affairs as well as in all others, is knowledge—of human passions—of arms—of distance—of the skill and numbers of an enemy. To be in the power of an enemy, is to have taken up, injudiciously, such a position as to expose you to a defeat whenever the enemy may think proper to attack you.

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. power

   Able to do, think or move.

   They had the powers to learn and shift perception.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on January 15, 2020  

2. ---

   power

   The ability for energy to change, transfer, transform, move or have usage.

   Solar Power is such an effective and efficient form of power and it is free and clean too.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 27, 2019  

3. ---

   power

   The ability or capacity to do

   Power is to be used so wisely in society.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 27, 2019  

4. ---

   power

   The capacity of a system or machine to function.

   The machine was capable of 1500 horse power.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 27, 2019  

5. ---

   power

   The efficient energy by which a system or machine functions or works.

   The machine and lights worked from solar power.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 27, 2019  

6. ---

   power

   The official capacity to use authority.

   Power from a governmental perspective is vital for politicians to perform their duties.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 27, 2019  

Matched Categories

1. • Causal Agent
   • Cognition
   • Government
   • Mathematical Notation
   • Physical Phenomenon
   • Physics
   • Quality
   • State
   • Strength
   • Supply

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'power' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #257

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'power' in Written Corpus Frequency: #652

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'power' in Nouns Frequency: #47

How to pronounce power?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say power in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of power in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of power in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of power in a Sentence

1. Richard Bach:

   An idea is never given to you without you being given the power to make it reality. You must, nevertheless, suffer for it.

2. Halland Chen:

   The iovera works in a very novel fashion. It actually harnesses the power of focus cold therapy.

3. Jerry Nadler:

   Today, we learned that Attorney General Barr has made a key finding related to the COVID-19 pandemic that triggers expanded authority under the CARES Act to transfer prisoners to home confinement. This is a positive development, and I urge appropriate and swift use of this power.

4. Mukesh Kafle:

   We have to make sure all cables are secure before turning the power on. Our technicians have been working round the clock.

5. Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse Dune, Missionaria Protectiva:

   All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptable. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.

Popularity rank by frequency of use