watt

¹ American  

[wot] / wɒt /

noun

1. the standard unit of power in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one joule per second and equal to the power in a circuit in which a current of one ampere flows across a potential difference of one volt. W, w.

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Watt ² American  

[wot] / wɒt /

noun

1. James, 1736–1819, Scottish engineer and inventor.

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Watt ¹ British  

/ wɒt /

noun

1. James. 1736–1819, Scottish engineer and inventor. His fundamental improvements to the steam engine led to the widespread use of steam power in industry

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watt ² British  

/ wɒt /

noun

1.  W.  the derived SI unit of power, equal to 1 joule per second; the power dissipated by a current of 1 ampere flowing across a potential difference of 1 volt. 1 watt is equivalent to 1.341 × 10 ^–3 horsepower

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watt ¹ Scientific  

/ wŏt /

1. The SI derived unit used to measure power, equal to one joule per second. In electricity, a watt is equal to current (in amperes) multiplied by voltage (in volts).

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Watt ² Scientific  

1. British engineer and inventor who patented a much improved version of the steam engine (1769) and devised the unit of horsepower. The watt unit of power is named for him.

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watt Cultural  

1. The basic unit of power, named after the eighteenth-century Scottish inventor James Watt.

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Etymology

Origin of watt

First recorded in 1882; named after J. Watt

Example Sentences

Ayar Labs says its interconnection chips can provide between four and 20 times the computing throughput per watt of energy spent to power an AI processor, compared with chips that use copper interconnects.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

They are the showcase for 18A, which the company claims offers up to 15% better performance per watt and 30% better chip density versus the previous process.

From Barron's • Jan. 6, 2026

The Vera Rubin “platform,” as Nvidia calls it, consists of six chips, including the Vera central processing unit, which Huang said delivers twice the performance per watt “of the world’s most advanced CPUs.”

From MarketWatch • Jan. 5, 2026

The otherworldly presence that put a 10-million watt spotlight on college women’s basketball?

From Seattle Times • May 22, 2024

Modern radio telescopes are exquisitely sensitive; a distant quasar is so faint that its detected radiation amounts perhaps to a quadrillionth of a watt.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan