power

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also Power

Contents

[edit] English

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Etymology

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

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Synonyms

Terms synonymous with one or more senses of power (noun)

[edit] Antonyms

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from power (noun)

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Translations

influence
physical force or strength
electricity supply
physics: measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy
physics: a rate to magnify an optical image by a lens or mirror
fourth level of angels
mathematics: product of equal factors
cardinality — see cardinality
statistics: probability of rejecting the null hypothesis
nation having a strong military and/or economy
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] 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.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

provide power for

[edit] Statistics

[edit] External links

  • power at OneLook Dictionary Search
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=power&oldid=16117000"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Views
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox
In other languages