Loading page
say it: POW-ur
power is a noun and verb meaning "possession of controlling influence". It carries 11 recorded senses.
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”
(physics) the rate of doing work; measured in watts (= joules/second)
physics
possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done
“danger heightened his powers of discrimination”
(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”
government
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”
a mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself
physical strength
a state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world
energy made available by the flow of electric charge through a conductor
“they built a car that runs on electricity”
“The power went oout around midnight”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for power come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.