pow·er·ful (pou  r-fl)adj.1. Having or capable of exerting power. 2. Effective or potent: a powerful drug. 3. Chiefly Upper Southern U.S. Great: "[Everybody had] a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free grace and preforeordestination, and I don't know what all" Mark Twain. adv. Chiefly Upper Southern U.S. Very: It was powerful humid.
power·ful·ly adv. power·ful·ness n. Regional Note: In the Upper Southern United States the words powerful and mighty are intensives used frequently in the same way as very: Your boy's grown powerful big. The new baby is mighty purty. Powerful is used as an adjective in some expressions: The storm did a powerful lot of harm. In the same dialect region the noun power has, in addition to its standard meaning, the sense of "a large number or amount." This sense appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as common in dialectal British English of the 18th and 19th centuries: "It has done a power of work" (Charles Dickens). All these derivative senses of power and might take advantage of the notion of strength inherent in these nouns, making them natural intensives. Colloquial English is always on the lookout for ways to make language more vivid with new intensives. We think of the Upper Southern part of the United States as linguistically conservative, but in fact it has preserved uses of power, powerful, and mighty that were innovative in their time. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. |  powerfulness - possession of controlling influence; "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her"; "his powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade"quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare effectiveness, potency, strength - capacity to produce strong physiological or chemical effects; "the toxin's potency"; "the strength of the drinks" valence, valency - (chemistry) a property of atoms or radicals; their combining power given in terms of the number of hydrogen atoms (or the equivalent) valence, valency - (biology) a relative capacity to unite or react or interact as with antigens or a biological substrate preponderance - superiority in power or influence; "the preponderance of good over evil"; "the preponderance of wealth and power" puissance - power to influence or coerce; "the puissance of the labor vote" persuasiveness, strength - the power to induce the taking of a course of action or the embracing of a point of view by means of argument or entreaty; "the strength of his argument settled the matter" interestingness, interest - the power of attracting or holding one's attention (because it is unusual or exciting etc.); "they said nothing of great interest"; "primary colors can add interest to a room" chokehold, stranglehold, throttlehold - complete power over a person or situation; "corporations have a stranglehold on the media"; "the president applied a chokehold to labor disputes that inconvenienced the public" sway - controlling influence influence - a power to affect persons or events especially power based on prestige etc; "used her parents' influence to get the job" control - power to direct or determine; "under control" jurisdiction, legal power - (law) the right and power to interpret and apply the law; "courts having jurisdiction in this district" disposal - the power to use something or someone; "used all the resources at his disposal" veto - the power or right to prohibit or reject a proposed or intended act (especially the power of a chief executive to reject a bill passed by the legislature) |
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