powerful
Americanadjective
-
having or exerting great power or force.
- Antonyms:
- weak
-
physically strong, as a person.
a large, powerful athlete.
-
producing great physical effects, as a machine or a blow.
-
potent; efficacious.
a powerful drug.
-
having great effectiveness, as a speech, speaker, description, reason, etc.
- Synonyms:
- effective, cogent, forcible, convincing, influential
-
having great power, authority, or influence; mighty.
a powerful nation.
-
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. great in number or amount.
a powerful lot of money.
adjective
-
having great power, force, potency, or effect
-
extremely effective or efficient in action
a powerful drug
a powerful lens
-
dialect large or great
a powerful amount of trouble
adverb
Synonym Usage
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 Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of powerful
First recorded in 1350–1400, powerful is from the Middle English word powarfull. See power, -ful
Explanation
Something that's powerful displays, well, power. Your neighbor who just finished training to be a fireman probably looks much more powerful than he used to. We use powerful for many different senses of "strong." A powerful medicine is very effective. A powerful politician has more influence than most politicians. A powerful dog could probably knock you down. If you're reading a book written in folksy Southern vernacular, someone might use powerful to mean "very," as in, "that was a powerful good supper, Miss Jackson," or "you look powerful good tonight."
Vocabulary lists containing powerful
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Hooked on a Feeling, List 1
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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.
At the end of July, McDonald became one of the most powerful law-enforcement officials in the nation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Obtaining a complete three-dimensional picture of a wavefunction would therefore give scientists a powerful view of molecular behavior, but producing such an image has been extremely difficult.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Reading the letters myself and seeing players read out loud with tears in their eyes provided a powerful example what can happen when parents express their true feelings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a no-confidence vote during a political crisis over tensions between his government and Pakistan's powerful military establishment.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
“He had a powerful business partner, I believe, who died suddenly and left him everything: so he essentially inherited the city wholesale. Anja has a network of people who report to her,” said Irian.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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.
