Power definition

Power

Topics Power Definition

WordNet

noun

(1) Physical strength

(2) 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"

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

"Danger heightened his powers of discrimination"

(4) A mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself

(5) A state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world

(6) A very wealthy or powerful businessman

"An oil baron"

(7) 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"

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

(9) (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"

verb

(10) Supply the force or power for the functioning of

"The gasoline powers the engines"

WiktionaryText

Etymology

< < < }, for ; see potent.

Noun

Physical force or strength.

He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium.
Control and influence over another entity and its actions.

He exerted his power upon his subordinates to obtain illicit, personal satisfaction.

The party has won power thanks to the influence of its charismatic leader.
electricity supply.

After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days.
A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
A rate to magnify an optical image by a lens or mirror.

We need a microscope with higher power.
in Christian angelology, the fourth level of angels, ranked above archangels and below principalities
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.
Cardinality.

Usage notes

Attributes: positive, negative, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, sexual, coercive, natural, cultural, etc.

Quotations

control and influence over another entity and its actions

2005, Columbia Law Review, April

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

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.

Ambiguous/Unknown definition

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.

Synonyms

See also Wikisaurus:power

Verb

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

This CD player is powered by batteries.

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