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powerful

[ pou-er-fuhl ]
/ ˈpaʊ ər fəl /
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See synonyms for: powerful / powerfully / powerfulness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
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Origin of powerful

First recorded in 1350–1400, powerful is from the Middle English word powarfull.See power, -ful

synonym study for powerful

1. 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 WORDS FROM powerful

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use powerful in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for powerful

powerful
/ (ˈpaʊəfʊl) /

adjective
having great power, force, potency, or effect
extremely effective or efficient in actiona powerful drug; a powerful lens
dialect large or greata powerful amount of trouble
adverb
dialect extremely; veryhe ran powerful fast

Derived forms of powerful

powerfully, adverbpowerfulness, noun
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
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