powerfuladj.n.adv.
/ˈpaʊəf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˈpaʊ(ə)rf(ə)l/ A. adj.† 5. Mathematics. Involving a square or higher power. Obsolete. rare.
1. Of a person or group of people: having power over others; holding control or influence over people and events, socially or politically influential; mighty.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > power > [adjective]
mightyeOE
craftyeOE
richeOE
strongeOE
wieldeOE
mainstrongOE
mightOE
keena1000
mightfullOE
mainfulc1225
reighc1225
starkc1275
boldc1300
fort13..
mightandc1350
strengthya1382
mightifula1400
bigc1400
powerfulc1450
puissant?c1450
mananta1500
mighteousa1500
potenta1500
potential?c1500
vailing1508
forcible1555
potentate1556
swingeing1567
powerable1580
strong-handed1598
strengthful1604
hogen mogen1648
powerlike1657
pollent1660
hogana1672
swayful1767
reverend1826
oomphy1955
kick-ass1977
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3242 (MED) My pure powarfull [a1500 Trin. Dub. powerfull] gods I prestly pauoure.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. ii. 55 The lords of Rosse, Beaumond, and Willoughby, With all their powerful friends are fled to him. View more context for this quotation
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) IV. 56 Death is..the powerfullest, the fearefulest enemy.
1640 J. Yorke Union of Honour 40 King Edward the fourth..being..expulsed the realme by the powerfull Earle of Warwicke.
1682 C. Irvine Historiæ Scoticæ Nomenclatura Ded. *iv By your careful Conduct, you made Britain triumph over her most powerful Sea-Rival.
1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xxv. 305 He is reckoned the powerfullest King on the Sea-coast of Malabar.
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 419 A powerful nation, whose large ancestry had peopled..all that part of the earth.
1874 A. Trollope Lady Anna I. xlv. 276 The young lady, no doubt, might do as she pleased; but lawyers can be very powerful.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 254/1 The completeness of the ruin of so powerful a state..finds an explanation in the economic conditions of the island.
1987 S. Bellow More die of Heartbreak 176 He has powerful enemies.
2004 Gay Times Feb. 70/1 Mr Dean, recognising the need not to upset the powerful religious constituency in the US, equivocated.
2. Capable of exerting great force (physical or immaterial); having great faculty or ability to do; strong, dynamic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > [adjective] > able or powerful
mightyeOE
powerful?1567
powerable1580
the world > action or operation > advantage > efficacy > [adjective] > greatly
mightyeOE
strongeOE
virtuous1340
rich?c1450
prevalent?a1475
energical1565
powerful?1567
powerable1580
magnipotent1599
virulent1599
validous1603
Herculanean1604
multipotent1609
energetical1610
prevailent1623
energetic1642
valid1656
energic1663
drastic1808
?1567 M. Parker Whole Psalter xxvi. 100 These workers of euyll..cast be they downe: by thy powerfull hand.
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 84 The chiefest part and most powerfull beginning of himselfe, namely of his spirite.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) v. ii. 15 Whose top-branch..kept low Shrubs from Winters pow'rfull Winde. View more context for this quotation
1656 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa V. iii. iv. 265 Extorting a confession from me by the powerfullest Rack.
a1711 T. Ken Divine Love in Wks. (1838) 275 Let thy all-powerful love abound in my heart.
1757 J. Woolman Jrnl. May (1971) iv. 66 Through the powerful operation of divine love we were favoured with an edifying meeting.
1808 W. Scott Marmion iv. xiii. 200 He knew to prize Lord Marmion's powerful mind, and wise.
1876 P. G. Tait Lect. Recent Adv. in Physical Sci. (ed. 2) vii. 183 A performer with a powerful instrument (such as a cornopean).
1930 J. Buchan Castle Gay i. 21 A powerful young man,..with massive shoulders and a fist like a blacksmith's.
1984 B. Breytenbach Mouroir 73 My wife and I..approached the city in his powerful car.
2002 M. Sipper Machine Nature v. 90 They enabled us to build the powerful computers we see around us today.
3.
a. Exerting great force; producing great effect or reaction; violent, potent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [adjective] > specific attributes of force
restitutive1683
unpolar1843
powerful1859
equipotential1865
non-central1929
1583 Answeare Def. Censure Charkes Bk. f. 62 In true mortification, when we shal feele that powerful killing of the corruption of the flesh.
1658 A. Cokayne Obstinate Lady v. iii, in Small Poems 387 I will rather..take powerfull potions, and sleep Out those unpleasant houres I have to live.
1722 D. Defoe Relig. Courtship i. i. 33 There is a powerful Force in a Father's Command.
1792 M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 88 The croton lacciferum, or physic nut bush, bears a seed which..acts as a powerful emetic.
1803 C. B. Brown Edgar Huntly I. viii. 219 Features which bore at all times a powerful resemblance to those of Mrs. Lorimer.
1859 R. I. Murchison Siluria (new ed.) iv. 68 Immediately to the east of that valley is seen the line of a powerful fault.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 902 A powerful fetid odour.
1956 I. Murdoch Flight from Enchanter x. 135 The curious and uneasy sensation which was oppressing him was a very powerful desire to reach out and take Annette's hand.
2005 D. Cruickshank Around World in 80 Treasures 242 The weight of a dome exerts a powerful lateral thrust and so demands complex buttressing.
b. Impressive, convincing, telling; persuasive, rhetorically or aesthetically forceful; moving.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > effect produced on emotions > [adjective] > strong or deep
sensiblea1393
solemnc1400
forcible1573
powerful1588
pressive1623
effectual1662
knock-down1690
impressive1775
imposing1783
effective1790
telling1819
home-coming1848
compelling1901
awesome1916
impactive1934
dynamite1942
fuck-off1962
the world > action or operation > advantage > efficacy > [adjective] > greatly > producing great effect
strongeOE
violenta1393
lusty1576
powerful1588
home-thrusting1604
potent1609
home-thrust1738
telling1819
1588 J. Udall True Remedie i. f. 17v Rather howe to shewe themselues learned, than to bring the people to feeling, by their patheticall and powerfull persuasions.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. x. sig. K3 Had not the Ladie with her powrefull speach Him from his wicked will vneath refrayned. View more context for this quotation
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1953) VI. 226 Of all proofes, Demonstration is the powerfullest.
1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey II. viii. Observ. 227 Ulysses..finds a way..to secure himself of a powerful advocate.
1782 J. Warton Ess. on Pope (new ed.) II. viii. 96 The pencil of Spenser is as powerful as that of Rubens, his brother allegorist.
1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol i. 9 ‘You're quite a powerful speaker, sir,’ he added, turning to his nephew. ‘I wonder you don't go into Parliament.’
1873 J. Morley Rousseau I. 124 The author of the most powerful book by which parental duty has been commended.
1960 Times 15 July 16/4 A powerful argument in favour of open-stage methods.
2004 B. Dylan Chronicles I. iv. 216 Sam Phillips himself had created the most crucial, uplifting and powerful records ever made.
4. Having the power to do something; able, capable of doing. Now archaic and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > [adjective]
ablea1382
virtuousc1425
capyousc1430
capax1432
possiblea1460
bastant1594
capable1597
powerful1620
1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 108 By which the Substance is able, or powerfull to doe something.
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health (1691) ix. 191 The evil Angels..at such times become more apt and powerful to do mischief.
1702 tr. Luis de Granada Sinners Guide i. x. 137 So inhumane, so bloody, such enemies to mankind, and so powerful to do harm.
1853 E. Bennett Clara Moreland xiv. 171 But if Kenneloo is powerful to do his will, he is also wilful in his power.
1897 B. Stoker Dracula xxiv. 325 He is finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do.
1923 D. A. Wilson Carlyle till Marriage i. i. 5 ‘Government’ may be feeble to do good, but it is powerful to do evil.
1998 R. Burns Bodies at Risk ii. v.146 The enlightenment faith..that once a problem has been rendered visible, it has been rendered less powerful to do harm.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [adjective] > multiple > of self or forming powers
solidc1430
quadratec1450
wholec1450
cubic1551
squared1557
sursolid1557
cubical?a1560
zenzic1571
quadrato-quadratic1647
quadrato-cubic1654
biquadratic1668
quadrato-quadratical1668
square-squarea1679
powerfula1690
biquadrate1806
quintic1851
sextic1851
superlinear1865
a1690 S. Jeake Λογιστικηλογία (1696) 614 A powerful Equation, wherein is some Figural number or other.
6. colloquial (chiefly Irish English and U.S.). Great in number, quantity, or degree; considerable. Cf. mighty adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective]
mickleeOE
wideOE
largec1300
greata1325
muchc1330
mightyc1390
millionc1390
dreicha1400
rudea1450
massive1581
massy1588
heavy1728
magnitudinous1777
powerful1800
almighty1824
tall1842
hefty1930
honking1943
mondo1968
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [adjective] > abundant, numerous
so manyc888
thickc893
muchc1225
rifec1275
stourc1275
unridec1300
copiousc1384
plentya1400
rivedc1400
numerable?a1425
numerous?a1475
many a several1543
rank1545
numberous1566
huge1570
multuous1586
multeous1589
numberful1594
numberable1596
numbery1606
numbersomea1617
multitudinousa1631
sand-like1630
voluminous1650
several1712
smart1750
powerful1800
multitudinarious1810
multitudinary1838
1800 M. Edgeworth Castle Rackrent 132 There was a powerful deal due to the Crown for sixteen years arrear of quit-rent.
1822 J. Woods Two Years' Resid. Eng. Prairie 294 I also have got some beefs, and a powerful chance of corn.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. v. 36 I..take a powerful sight of notice.
1910 J. Miller Tally-ho i. 123 He's a powerful heap luckier in his wife than he is in his mine, to my thinkin'.
1952 F. C. Brown Coll. N. Carolina Folklore I. 578 A powerful sight of folks came.
2005 Irish Times (Nexis) 30 July 4 He did a powerful lot of good work for the legion, maintenance work, looking after people that needed help.
B. n.
With the and plural agreement. Powerful or mighty people as a class.
ΚΠ
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. iii. §12. 45 Although nothing be more frequent than the scoffes and jeeres of the powerfull against the weak.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 497. ⁋2 The wanton disposition of the favours of the powerful.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 75. ⁋16 The rich and powerful live in a perpetual masquerade, in which all about them wear borrowed characters.
1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby II. iv. iv. 39 The idea of restraining the powerful by the weak is an absurdity.
1968 A. K. Armah Beautyful Ones are not yet Born xii. 178 The man..was content to note again how unwilling the powerless became when there was a call for them to resent the powerful.
2002 Outlook (New Delhi) 23 Sept. 48/1 UTI will continue to be run for the benefit of the powerful and their friends.
C. adv.
colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S. regional (southern)). To a great degree; very, exceedingly. Cf. mighty adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very
tooc888
swith971
wellOE
wellOE
fullOE
rightc1175
muchc1225
wellac1275
gainlya1375
endlyc1440
hard?1440
very1448
odda1500
great1535
jolly1549
fellc1600
veryvery1649
gooda1655
vastly1664
strange1667
bloody1676
ever so1686
heartily1727
real1771
precious1775
quarely1805
murry1818
très1819
freely1820
powerfula1822
gurt1824
almighty1830
heap1832
all-fired1833
gradely1850
real1856
bonny1857
heavens1858
veddy1859
canny1867
some1867
oh-so1881
storming1883
spanking1886
socking1896
hefty1898
velly1898
fair dinkum1904
plurry1907
Pygmalion1914
dinkum1915
beaucoup1918
dirty1920
molto1923
snorting1924
honking1929
hellishing1931
thumpingly1948
way1965
mega1966
mondo1968
seriously1970
totally1972
mucho1978
stonking1990
a1822 J. Drayton in Amer. Speech (1956) 31 270 Powerful. This word is much used by the middling and lower class of people in the interior of So. Carolina..: instead of saying a person is very strong, they would say, he is powerful; or powerful strong.
1848 W. E. Burton Waggeries & Vagaries 23 He felt it tickle powerful from the top of his head to thee end of his starn-fin.
1876 W. Besant & J. Rice Golden Butterfly II. v. 83 Rayner seems powerful anxious to get you on the paper.
1942 Morgantown (W. Va.) Post 26 Sept. 5 It does get powerful cold in those hills.
1997 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 17 Aug. 4 Dis fox pow'ful hungry, so he looks 'roun' to see whatsomevuh he kin fin' to eat.
Compounds
C1. Parasynthetic, as powerful-engined, powerful-handed, etc., adjs.
ΚΠ
1822 J. Galt Provost xxxvi. 262 Pulled out of the crowd by a powerful handed woman.
1859 G. A. Sala Twice round Clock 253 Surveyed, through powerful-lensed lorgnettes.
1903 Daily Chron. 5 Jan. 5/2 The most powerful-engined liner in the world.
1906 H. R. Haggard Benita ix. 129 A clever powerful-faced man.
1988 P. Wayburn Adventuring in Alaska (rev. ed.) ii. 110 They can paralyze an open, feeding barnacle in a flash and even knock out the powerful-jawed mussel worm.
C2.
powerful-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1796 S. Perry Hist. Sketch French Revol. I. 558 Sixteen or eighteen powerful looking men, without any uniform, standing in the outer apartment.
1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller I. 39 He was a dark, stern, powerful looking fellow.
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 213 A powerful-looking figure, the upper part of which was draped with a white surplice, was observed to be struggling up into the pulpit.
1999 Afr. Amer. Rev. 33 32/2 The obsessive quest for ever larger, more imposing, more powerful-looking physiques.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.adv.c1450