mana

[ mah-nah ]

/ ˈmɑ nɑ /

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noun Anthropology.

a generalized, supernatural force or power, which may be concentrated in objects or persons.

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Which of the following words means “to make a crackling sound; crackle”?

crisp

crepitate

fuscous

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Origin of mana

Borrowed into English from Polynesian around 1835–45

Words nearby mana

mampoer, Ma'mun, al-, Mamurius, mamzer, man, mana, man about town, manacle, manada, Manado, manage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use mana in a sentence

Melissa Cheyney, chief author of the pro-home-birth MANA study, calls the Cornell methodology “misleading.”
The Home-Birth Rebellion|Brandy Zadrozny|February 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Government spokesman Nasser al-Mana'a insisted the government had no choice but to attack and had used proportionate violence.
Ex-Gaddafi Stronghold Surrenders to Pro-Government Forces|Jamie Dettmer|October 24, 2012|DAILY BEAST
This consists of "getting up" a memorial to some distinguished mana statue, it may be, or modest bust.
Ephemera Critica|John Churton Collins
May your mana never be less;—long may you hold at bay the demon of civilization, though fall at last I fear you must.
Old New Zealand:|'A Pakeha Maori' [Frederick Edwa [Maning]

A chief of very high rank, standing, and mana, was on a war expedition; with him were about five hundred men.
Old New Zealand:|'A Pakeha Maori' [Frederick Edwa [Maning]
If the reader has not some faint notion of mana by this time, I can't help it: I can't do any better for him.
Old New Zealand:|'A Pakeha Maori' [Frederick Edwa [Maning]
But mind you do not translate mana as power; that won't do: they are two different things entirely.
Old New Zealand:|'A Pakeha Maori' [Frederick Edwa [Maning]

British Dictionary definitions for mana

mana

/ (ˈmɑːnə) /

noun anthropol

(in Polynesia, Melanesia, etc) a concept of a life force, believed to be seated in the head, and associated with high social status and ritual power

any power achieved by ritual means; prestige; authority

Word Origin for mana

from Polynesian

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012