powerful definition

English

Alternative forms

powreful, powrefull (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English pouerful, powarfull, equivalent to power +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpaʊəfəl/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpaʊɚfəl/
Audio (US) (file)
Hyphenation: pow‧er‧ful

Adjective

powerful (comparative more powerful or powerfuller or powerfuler, superlative most powerful or powerfullest or powerfulest)

Having, or capable of exerting power, potency 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.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:
  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?‎^[2], 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.
Leading to many or important deductions.
a powerful set of postulates

a powerful theorem
(mining) Large; capacious; said of veins of ore.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

having or capable of exerting power, potency or influence

Arabic: قَوِيّ‎ (qawiyy)
Armenian: ուժեղ (hy) (užeġ), հզոր (hy) (hzor), զորեղ (hy) (zoreġ)
Asturian: poderosu
Azerbaijani: güclü (az)
Basque: ahaldun
Belarusian: мо́цны (be) (mócny), магу́тны (mahútny), пату́жны (patúžny)
Bengali: শক্ত (bn) (śokto)
Breton: galloudeg
Bulgarian: мо́щен (bg) (móšten), могъ́щ (bg) (mogǎ́št)
Catalan: potent, poderós (ca)
Cherokee: ᎤᎳᏂᎩᏛ (ulanigidv)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 強大／强大 (zh) (qiángdà), 強勁／强劲 (zh) (qiángjìng), 強力／强力 (zh) (qiánglì)
Corsican: putente, putenti, potente
Czech: mocný (cs), účinný (cs)
Dutch: machtig (nl)
Egyptian:

(wsr)
Esperanto: potenca
Estonian: võimas
Finnish: voimakas (fi), vahva (fi), mahtava (fi), voimallinen (fi), tehokas (fi)
French: puissant (fr)
Friulian: potent
Galician: poderoso (gl), potente
Georgian: ძლევამოსილი (ʒlevamosili), ძლიერი (ʒlieri), გავლენიანი (gavleniani)
German: mächtig (de)
Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (mahteigs)
Greek: ισχυρός (el) (ischyrós)
Ancient: δυνατός (dunatós), ἰσχυρός (iskhurós)
Guaraní: pu'aka
Hebrew: עוצמתי‎ (‘otsmatí)
Icelandic: öflugur m, voldugur (is) m, máttugur (is) m, kröftugur m, kraftmikill m, valdamikill m
Irish: cumhachtach, cumasach, láidir, éifeachtach, neartmhar, bríomhar, tréan
Italian: potente (it), efficace (it)
Japanese: 強力な (ja) (きょうりょくな, kyōryoku na), 強い (ja) (つよい, tsuyoi)
Kazakh: күшті (kk) (küştı)
Khmer: ខ្លាំងពូកែ (khlangpuukae), ខ្លាំងក្លា (khlangklaa)
Korean: 강하다 (ko) (ganghada), 강력하다 (ko) (gangnyeokhada)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کار بەدەست‎ (kar bedest), بەھێز‎ (ckb) (behêz)
Kyrgyz: күчтүү (ky) (küçtüü)
Latin: imperiōsus, potens (la)
Macedonian: моќен (moḱen)
Malay: berkuasa (ms)
Mirandese: poderoso, podroso
Norman: piêssant
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kraftfull, mektig

Nynorsk: kraftfull, mektig
Old English: wealdende, mihtiġ
Persian: قوی‎ (fa) (qavi)
Piedmontese: potent
Polish: mocny (pl), potężny (pl)
Portuguese: poderoso (pt), potente (pt)
Romagnol: putént
Russian: могу́щественный (ru) (mogúščestvennyj), могу́чий (ru) (mogúčij), мо́щный (ru) (móščnyj), влия́тельный (ru) (vlijátelʹnyj) (influential)
Sanskrit: उग्र (sa) (ugra), विभूति (sa) (vibhūti)
Scottish Gaelic: cumhachdach
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: мо̏ћан

Roman: mȍćan
Slovak: mocný
Slovene: močan (sl)
Spanish: poderoso (es)
Swedish: mäktig (sv)
Tajik: қавӣ (tg) (qavī)
Telugu: బలమైన (te) (balamaina), శక్తివంతం (śaktivantaṁ)
Turkish: güçlü (tr)
Turkmen: güýçli
Ukrainian: могу́тній (mohútnij), міцни́й (micnýj), поту́жний (potúžnyj)
Uzbek: kuchli (uz)
Vietnamese: mạnh mẽ (vi), hùng mạnh, hùng cường (vi)
Welsh: pwerus
Yiddish: מעכטיג‎ (mekhtig), שטאַרק‎ m (shtark), כּוחדיק‎ (koyekhdik)

Adverb

powerful (comparative more powerful, superlative most powerful)

(Southern US) Synonym of very

Anagrams

powreful

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