powerhouse
Americannoun
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powerhouses
plural
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Electricity. a generating station.
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a person, group, team, or the like, having great energy, strength, or potential for success.
noun
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an electrical generating station or plant
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informal a forceful or powerful person or thing
Usage
What does powerhouse mean? A powerhouse is a powerful, forceful, or dominant person, group, or thing. In a literal sense, a powerhouse is a station or plant that generates electricity. Although it can still be used this way, terms like power plant and power station are much more common. Powerhouse is far more commonly used in the figurative way, especially in context of sports and business. Example: Because they always win, they can always recruit the best players, which makes them a perennial powerhouse in the conference.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of powerhouse
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:
But the journey from two teenagers "mucking about with plasticine" to an Oscar-winning animation powerhouse has often hinged on chance decisions, practical compromises and creative instinct.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Erling Haaland: Off the mark with a trademark header and a powerhouse finish.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Microsoft remains a powerhouse, and hopes for OpenAI still run high.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Whitney Houston’s powerhouse version stands alone, but Dolly’s quieter, mournful ode to her collaboration with Porter Wagoner is the artful, formative sketch to a colossal mural.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Sure, I pictured myself on that television screen, wearing a bomb-fancy dress, tearing up the stage with some grand, powerhouse song, and in the end having the crown placed on my head.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
Analysts say a takeover could reshape the payments space, bringing together major fintech powerhouses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
So far, Hollywood's traditional powerhouses -- Paramount, Universal, Sony, Walt Disney and Warner Bros -- have officially stayed on the sidelines of the AI shift.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Joining them are the HBO powerhouses “The Gilded Age” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” along with Apple TV’s “Your Friends and Neighbors” and last year’s biggest prestige TV conversation piece, “Pluribus.”
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
Kang and Putellas symbolise a powerful partnership which can help propel WSL football, as well as launch the club into one of Europe's powerhouses.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
How many mill towns saw their mills close; how many shoe towns saw the shoe industry move elsewhere; how many towns that were once textile powerhouses now buy all their linens from China?
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
