powerful
Americanadjective
-
having or exerting great power or force.
- Antonyms:
- weak
-
physically strong, as a person.
a large, powerful athlete.
-
producing great physical effects, as a machine or a blow.
-
potent; efficacious.
a powerful drug.
-
having great effectiveness, as a speech, speaker, description, reason, etc.
- Synonyms:
- effective, cogent, forcible, convincing, influential
-
having great power, authority, or influence; mighty.
a powerful nation.
-
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. great in number or amount.
a powerful lot of money.
adjective
-
having great power, force, potency, or effect
-
extremely effective or efficient in action
a powerful drug
a powerful lens
-
dialect large or great
a powerful amount of trouble
adverb
Synonym Usage
Powerful, mighty, potent suggest great force or strength. Powerful suggests capability of exerting great force or overcoming strong resistance: a powerful machine like a bulldozer. Mighty, now chiefly rhetorical, implies uncommon or overwhelming strength of power: a mighty army. Potent implies great natural or inherent power: a potent influence.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of powerful
First recorded in 1350–1400, powerful is from the Middle English word powarfull. See power, -ful
Explanation
Something that's powerful displays, well, power. Your neighbor who just finished training to be a fireman probably looks much more powerful than he used to. We use powerful for many different senses of "strong." A powerful medicine is very effective. A powerful politician has more influence than most politicians. A powerful dog could probably knock you down. If you're reading a book written in folksy Southern vernacular, someone might use powerful to mean "very," as in, "that was a powerful good supper, Miss Jackson," or "you look powerful good tonight."
Vocabulary lists containing powerful
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Hooked on a Feeling, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The remark came a day after Musk accused unnamed powerful business interests of trying to block Starlink's entry into India.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
With newer, more powerful chips continually being developed, operators of data centers have to keep updating chips while depreciating the value of older assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The powerful surf exacerbated by the morning's high tide slammed into coastal communities, including Long Beach, where signficiant sections of the boardwalk crumbled under the pounding waves and several homes suffered serious structural damage.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Nikon said the use of generative AI in the composition of the video broke the rules of its Small World In Motion contest, which accepts photos and video taken using powerful microscopes.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
With a single snap of his powerful jaws, Wolf tore the ravenskin pouch from her belt -knocking her off her feet, out of reach of the bear -then sped out of the cave.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
