megawatt

American

[meg-uh-wot] / ˈmɛg əˌwɒt /

noun

Electricity.

a unit of power, equal to one million watts. MW

megawatt British

/ ˈmɛɡəˌwɒt /

noun

MW. one million watts

"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

megawatt Cultural

A unit of power: one million watts. A typical large electrical generating plant can produce a thousand megawatts of electricity.

Etymology

Origin of megawatt

First recorded in 1895–1900; mega- + watt

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.

See Examples For:

megawatt

But unlike in Virginia, Texas, Ohio and other states where residents are fighting 400-plus megawatt hyperscaler facilities in their backyards, California has some major barriers keeping data centers at bay.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

Sharon AI is burning through cash, with Manning telling investors last month that it was making about $39 million worth of capital expenditures for each megawatt of capacity.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

The benchmark Dutch TTF front-month contract is up 1.4% to 46.90 euros a megawatt hour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Researchers are aiming for levels between 500 kilowatts and 1 megawatt per thruster in the coming years.

From Science Daily ● May 6, 2026

Sasha was now about a year old, wobbling on two feet and beginning to say words and crack us up with her megawatt smiles.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023