MW
megawatt; megawatts.
MW
1 American
mW
2
American
Electricity.
MW
1
British
symbol
abbreviation
-
radio medium wave
-
Master of Wine
-
Malawi (international car registration)
mw
2
British
abbreviation
Usage
What does MW mean? In the context of dictionaries, MW stands for “many words.” Or something like that. If you’re here because you searched for “MW dictionary,” well, you’ve come to the right place as far as we’re concerned, because, oh yes, we’ve got many words. MW is really an abbreviation, though, and it can stand for a lot of different things. Most commonly, MW stands for megawatt, a unit of power equal to one million watts. Sometimes, the two letters are used as an abbreviation for milliwatt, a unit equal to one thousandth of a watt. In this case, it is typically styled as mW. In other scientific contexts, MW is an abbreviation for molecular weight—the sum of the atomic weights of all the atoms in a molecule. In URLs, .mw is the internet domain for Malawi. MW can also stand for medium wave (a type of radio wave) or Master of Wine, a certification issued to wine experts. And, OK, yes, when you see MW or M-W in the context of dictionaries, it often refers to the George and Charles Merriam/Noah Webster mashup. You know, “since 1828” and all that. (See you at the convention, M Dub!)Example: The station is capable of generating 1,000 MW of power.
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:
In Spain, battery storage capacity has risen almost sevenfold since last April, from about 28 MW before the blackout to 193MW in April 2026, according to the grid operator Red Eléctrica.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The complex has about 480 MW of existing power availability, and that could be expanded over time, TeraWulf said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
He is positive on Naver’s plan to expand its AI data-center capacity to 55 megawatts by 1H 2027, 100 MW by end-2027 and 200 MW in 2028 as part of the Nvidia-led gigawatt-scale initiative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
MW: I was thinking that a lot of people who live in Compton, they’re seeing your work as part of their everyday, and there’s something really special about that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
The company will be purchased for $21.20 a share by a joint venture formed by MW Group and funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate and DivcoWest.
From Barron's ● Dec. 9, 2025
The resulting hybrid laser exhibited stable operation at output powers of over 20 mW at 1063.4 nm and had a maximum output power of 37 mW.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 13, 2023
Bosnia alone has 244 rivers and had plans to build over 350 hydropower plants with the installed capacity of up to 10 mW — or more than one on every waterway.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 10, 2022
The measurement condition is 10 K, 9.267 GHz, 2 mW microwave power and 20 Gauss modulation. b, The EPR spectra of the ferricyanide-oxidized sample at various temperatures.
From Nature ● Apr. 24, 2018
He’s currently developing a 3-Megawatt solar facility with a 1 mW mining operation near Mojave in California, on a 20-acre property.
From The Verge ● Dec. 21, 2017
A typical AAA battery can move 2000 C of charge at 1.5 V. How long will this run a 50 mW LED?
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
Because the density of water is 1000 kg/m3 , one liter of water has a mass of 1 kg, and the mass of 0.250 liters of water is mw = 0.250 kg .
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
By comparison, the largest currently operating solar farms, built by First Solar First Solar in California, have nameplate capacity of 550 mw.
From Forbes ● Jul. 8, 2015
According to a study last year by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar developers need an average of 10 acres of land to put up 1 mw of solar panels.
From Forbes ● Feb. 25, 2014
In recent years Aruba invested $300 million to build a 20-turbine wind farm rated at 30 mw that meets 20% of the island’s power needs.
From Forbes ● Feb. 25, 2014
The consonants are f, k, g; d, t; b; q, gw; l, r; s; m; mw; n, ng.
From Grammar and Vocabulary of the Lau Language, Solomon Islands by W. G. (Walter George) Ivens
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.
