Other forms: powers, powered, powering
Power is the ability to make things happen, and to make people do what you want. A government in power, a manager who decides which shifts you get, the power in an engine dragging a train up a hill.
The word runs from the political to the electrical without changing shape. The power went out means the electricity stopped, and a power cut, a power plant and power tools all belong to that side of it. Physics gives it an exact meaning — energy per second, measured in watts — and maths gives it another: two to the power of ten. In the plural, powers are the authorities a person or body has been given: emergency powers, the powers of a court. As a verb, to power something is to supply the energy that runs it, which is why a calculator is solar-powered. Keep power and force apart: power is what you are able to do, force is the push you actually apply.
1nouncontrolControl over other people and over what happens.~44%
“The same party has been in power for nine years.”
2nounpowerThe ability to do something.~2%
“It is not in my power to move the deadline.”
3nounelectricityElectricity, or the energy that makes a machine work.~44%
“The power went off in the middle of the storm.”
4nounphysicalPhysical strength or force.~2%
“There is real power in his right arm.”
5nounplural(plural) The legal authority given to a person or a body.~2%
“Inspectors have powers to enter a kitchen without warning.”
6nounmathematics(mathematics) The number of times a number is multiplied by itself.~2%
“Two to the power of ten is 1,024.”
7verbsupplyTo supply a machine with the energy it needs to work.~4%
“The lights are powered by a small solar panel on the roof.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 23 sentences found in the wild and placed 23 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
power is a form of control or energy.
Power came into English through Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin posso, from Latin possum, meaning I am able. Under all the presidents and power cuts sits a verb that means nothing more than being able — the same root that gives potent. It replaced the older English word anweald.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁es-
Middle English
power
English, today
power
From Middle English power. From Middle English power, poer, from Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin posso, from Latin possum, whence potent. Compare French pouvoir. Displaced the native anweald.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA