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
Related Words
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
- overpowerful adjective
- overpowerfully adverb
- overpowerfulness noun
- powerfully adverb
- powerfulness noun
- quasi-powerful adjective
- quasi-powerfully adverb
- superpowerful adjective
- ultrapowerful adjective
- unpowerful adjective
Etymology
Origin of powerful
First recorded in 1350–1400, powerful is from the Middle English word powarfull. See power, -ful
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.
And on Tuesday the North Korean leader's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, demanded an apology over the incident from the "hooligans of the enemy state" responsible.
From Barron's
At its core, she explains, lying is "telling a story with the intention to deceive people" and that warps reality in a powerful way which she warns can ultimately be damaging.
From BBC
Speaking to host Prakhar Gupta, the AI chief argued that people will eventually use powerful, personalised AI tools that will be able to run on the hardware already inside their devices.
From BBC
Oscar said he was surprised the treatment could pack such a powerful punch in such a small dose.
From BBC
And of course there’s the long road to the Oscars with the quiet but powerful “Train Dreams.”
From Los Angeles Times
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.
