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powerful

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English pouerful, powarfull. By surface analysis, power +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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powerful (comparative more powerful, superlative most powerful)

  1. Having, or capable of exerting, power or influence.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
      The powerful grace that lies / In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities.
    • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Compendiously of Sundry Tenents Concerning Minerall and Terreous Bodies, which Examined, Prove either False or Dubious”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, paragraph 3, page 85:
      [T]he ſubſtance of gold is indeed invincible by the povverfulleſt action of natural heat, […]
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.
    • 2004, George Carlin, “NOTHING CHANGES”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 106:
      Dear Political Activists
      All your chanting, marching, voting, picketing, boycotting and letter-writing will not change a thing; you will never right the wrongs of this world. The only thing your activity will accomplish is to make some of you feel better. Such activity makes powerless people feel useful, and provides them the illusion that they're making a difference. But it doesn't work. Nothing changes. The powerful keep the power. That's why they're called the powerful.
    • 2023 December 27, Mindy Weisberger, “Ancient bricks baked when Nebuchadnezzar II was king absorbed a power surge in Earth’s magnetic field”, in CNN‎[2], archived from the original on 20 January 2024:
      Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere — an invisible bubble of magnetism generated by the powerful churning of molten metals at Earth’s core.
    • 2026 June 19, Edward Helmore, “Comparison to Hitler, Mao, Stalin? Trump says: ‘Sounds good to me!’”, in The Guardian‎[3], archived from the original on 19 July 2026:
      Brandishing this document, Haberman and Swan reportedly write, Trump recited “the names of some of history’s most powerful figures, explaining how each fell short of his own power as US president”.
  2. Leading to many or important deductions.
    Synonym: heavy
    a powerful set of postulates
    a powerful theorem
  3. (mining) Large; capacious; said of veins of ore.
  4. (mathematics, not comparable) Being a powerful number.
    Synonym: squareful

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Adverb

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powerful (comparative more powerful, superlative most powerful)

  1. (flat adverb, dialect, Southern US or archaic) Powerfully; very; extremely.
    Near-synonyms: marvellous, plenty
    • 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 514:
      "Well, you see, Thady, we'd a powerful great harvist uv it, you know, this year, an' the min all worked like jewels, as they are; an' the masther was in great sperits, an' he promis'd he'd give us all a grand dinner whin the dhrawin'-in was over, an' the corn all safe in the haggard."
    • 1954, Ian Fleming, “Allumeuse”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 108:
      Above all, she remembered that first time in the Houmfor where her black nurse had once taken her as a child. 'It do yuh no harm, Missy. Dis powerful good juju. Care fe yuh res 'f yo life.'
    • 1972, John O'Grady, It's Your Shout, Mate, Ure Smith, page 59:
      "She was stinkin' hot down here that summer, an' we were powerful dry."
    • 2001, Matt Selman, “Simpsons Tall Tales”, in The Simpsons:
      Huck (Nelson): These derringers sure are weak, Tom.
      Tom (Bart): Powerful weak.
      [The joke is that this adverb feels noticeably absurd when paired with an adjective that is normally its polar opposite, even though the utterance works idiomatically because the adverb means merely "very".]

Anagrams

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