Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having or capable of exerting power.
  • adjective Effective or potent.
  • adjective Chiefly Upper Southern US Great.
  • adverb Very.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Exerting great force or power; able to produce great physical effects; strong; efficient: as, a powerful engine; a powerful blow; a powerful medicine.
  • Having great authority; puissant; potent; mighty: as, a powerful nation.
  • Characterized by great intellectual power.
  • Having great influence or moral power; cogent; efficacious.
  • Great; numerous; numerically large. Compare power, 10.
  • Synonyms Puissant, forcible, cogent, influential; vigorous, robust, sturdy.
  • Very: as, powerful good; powerful weak.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of power; capable of producing great effects of any kind; potent; mighty; efficacious; intense
  • adjective (Mining) Large; capacious; -- said of veins of ore.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having, or capable of exerting power, potency or influence.
  • adjective mining Large; capacious; said of veins of ore.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having great power or force or potency or effect
  • adjective strong enough to knock down or overwhelm
  • adjective having great influence
  • adjective (of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful
  • adjective displaying superhuman strength or power
  • adverb (Southern regional intensive) very; to a great degree

Etymologies

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