Power vs. Powerful — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 27, 2024
"Power" refers to the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events, while "powerful" describes something or someone possessing great power or strength, often with impactful effects.
Difference Between Power and Powerful
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Power is a noun that signifies the ability or capacity to act or perform effectively, often related to control or influence over others. On the other hand, powerful is an adjective used to describe entities that exhibit or wield great power, such as a powerful leader or a powerful engine.
While power can exist as a potential or static quality, indicating the presence of authority or influence that may not be actively demonstrated, powerful explicitly indicates the active exertion or possession of strong capabilities. For instance, a country may have power due to its resources, whereas a powerful earthquake actively demonstrates force and impact.
Power is often measured by the extent of control or influence one has over circumstances or other entities, such as political power or the power of persuasion. Conversely, being powerful typically involves tangible demonstrations of strength or effectiveness, like a powerful speech that sways public opinion or a powerful computer that processes data quickly.
The concept of power can also be abstract, referring to non-physical domains such as emotional power or intellectual power, where the impact is psychological or cognitive. On the other hand, powerful often implies a noticeable, immediate impact, whether physical, emotional, or intellectual, such as a powerful argument that changes someone’s mind.
Comparison Chart
Part of Speech
Noun
Adjective
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Definition
The ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way.
Having great power or strength.
Application
Can be abstract or potential.
Usually visible or actively demonstrated.
Contexts
Broad, ranging from personal to global scales.
Specific instances or characteristics.
Connotations
Influence, authority, potential.
Effectiveness, impact, strength.
Compare with Definitions
Power
A state or country possessing control and influence over others.
The country emerged as a great power after the war.
Powerful
Able to influence or persuade people effectively.
She is a powerful speaker known for her dynamic presentations.
Power
The ability to influence or outright control the behavior of people.
The president wields considerable power.
Powerful
Possessing great force or vigor.
The hurricane was one of the most powerful in recorded history.
Power
The capacity or ability to direct or influence the course of events.
The power of the storm was unexpected.
Powerful
(of a device or system) capable of a strong output or performance.
He upgraded to a more powerful computer.
Power
Energy production or capacity.
The new plant increases the city’s power supply.
Powerful
Having great power or strength.
A powerful animal that can easily outrun its predators.
Power
Physical might or force.
The power of the waves can erode cliffs.
Powerful
Emotionally or intellectually impactful.
The documentary had a powerful effect on its audience.
Power
The ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way
His powers of concentration
The power of speech
I will do everything in my power to help you
Powerful
Having or capable of exerting power.
Power
The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events
She had me in her power
A political process that offers people power over their own lives
Powerful
Effective or potent
A powerful drug.
Power
Physical strength and force exerted by something or someone
The lyrical power of his prose
The power of the storm
Powerful
Chiefly Upper Southern US Great
"[Everybody had] a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free grace ... and I don't know what all" (Mark Twain).
Power
Energy that is produced by mechanical, electrical, or other means and used to operate a device
Generating power from waste
Power cables
Powerful
Very
It was powerful humid.
Power
The rate of doing work, measured in watts or less frequently horse power.
Powerful
Having, or capable of exerting power, potency or influence.
Power
The product obtained when a number is multiplied by itself a certain number of times
2 to the power of 4 equals 16
Powerful
Leading to many or important deductions.
A powerful set of postulates
A powerful theorem
Power
A large number or amount of something
There's a power of difference between farming now and when I was a lad
Powerful
(mining) Large; capacious; said of veins of ore.
Power
Supply (a device) with mechanical or electrical energy
A nuclear-powered submarine
The car is powered by a fuel-injected 3.0-litre engine
Powerful
(Southern US) very
Power
Move or travel with great speed or force
He powered round a bend
Powerful
Full of power; capable of producing great effects of any kind; potent; mighty; efficacious; intense; as, a powerful man or beast; a powerful engine; a powerful argument; a powerful light; a powerful vessel.
The powerful grace that liesIn herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities.
Power
The ability or capacity to act or do something effectively
Is it in your power to undo this injustice?.
Powerful
Large; capacious; - said of veins of ore.
Power
Often powers A specific capacity, faculty, or aptitude
Her powers of concentration.
Powerful
Having great power or force or potency or effect;
The most powerful government in western Europe
His powerful arms
A powerful bomb
The horse's powerful kick
Powerful drugs
A powerful argument
Power
Physical strength or force exerted or capable of being exerted
The power of the waves.
Powerful
Strong enough to knock down or overwhelm;
A knock-down blow
Power
Effectiveness at moving one's emotions or changing how one thinks
A novel of great power.
Powerful
Having the power to influence or convince;
A cogent analysis of the problem
Potent arguments
Power
The ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority
How long has that party been in power?.
Powerful
(of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful;
A hefty athlete
A muscular boxer
Powerful arms
Power
The military strength or economic or political influence of a nation or other group
That country projects its power throughout the region.
Powerful
Displaying superhuman strength or power;
Herculean exertions
Power
A country, nation, or other political unit having great influence or control over others
The western powers.
Powerful
(Southern regional intensive) very;
The baby is mighty cute
He's mighty tired
It is powerful humid
That boy is powerful big now
They have a right nice place
Power
A supernatural being
The powers of evil.
Power
Powers(Christianity) The sixth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
Power
The energy or motive force by which a physical system or machine is operated
Turbines turned by steam power.
A sailing ship driven by wind power.
Power
The capacity of a system or machine to operate
A vehicle that runs under its own power.
Power
Electrical or mechanical energy, especially as used to assist or replace human energy.
Power
Electricity supplied to a home, building, or community
A storm that cut off power to the whole region.
Power
(Physics) The rate at which work is done, expressed as the amount of work per unit time and commonly measured in units such as the watt and horsepower.
Power
The product of applied potential difference and current in a direct-current circuit.
Power
The product of the effective values of the voltage and current with the cosine of the phase angle between current and voltage in an alternating-current circuit.
Power
See exponent.
Power
The number of elements in a finite set.
Power
(Statistics) In a statistical test, the probability of correctly rejecting the null hypothesis when it is false.
Power
A measure of the magnification of an optical instrument, such as a microscope or telescope.
Power
Chiefly Upper Southern US A large number or amount. See Note at powerful.
Power
(Archaic) An armed force.
Power
Of or relating to political, social, or economic control
A power struggle.
A power base.
Power
Operated with mechanical or electrical energy in place of bodily exertion
A power tool.
Power car windows.
Power
Of or relating to the generation or transmission of electricity
Power companies.
Power lines.
Power
(Informal) Of or relating to influential business or professional practices
A pinstriped suit with a power tie.
Met with high-level executives at a power breakfast.
Power
To supply with power, especially mechanical or electrical power.
Power
The ability to do or undergo something.
Power
(social) The ability to coerce, influence, or control.
Power
(countable) The ability to affect or influence.
Power
Control or coercion, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction).
Power
The people in charge of legal or political power, the government.
Power
(metonymically) An influential nation, company, or other such body.
Power
An army, a military force.
Power
Effectiveness.
Power
Physical force or strength.
He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium.
Power
Electricity or a supply of electricity.
After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days.
Power
A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
Power
The strength by which a lens or mirror magnifies an optical image.
We need a microscope with higher power.
Power
A large amount or number.
Power
Any of the elementary forms or parts of machines: three primary (the lever, inclined plane, and pulley) and three secondary (the wheel-and-axle, wedge, and screw).
The mechanical powers
Power
A measure of the effectiveness that a force producing a physical effect has over time. If linear, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the displacement of or in an object) ÷ time. If rotational, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the angle of displacement) ÷ time.
Power
(mathematics)
Power
A product of equal factors (and generalizations of this notion): , read as " to the power of " or the like, is called a power and denotes the product , where appears times in the product; is called the base and the exponent.
Power
(set theory) Cardinality.
Power
(statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
Power
In Christian angelology, an intermediate level of angels, ranked above archangels, but exact position varies by classification scheme.
Power
(transitive) To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device).
This CD player is powered by batteries.
Power
(transitive) To hit or kick something forcefully.
Power
To enable or provide the impetus for.
Power
Impressive.
Power
Same as Poor, the fish.
Power
Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power.
Power
Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm.
Power
Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; - called also passive power; as, great power of endurance.
Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power.
Power
The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government.
Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent.
Power
The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity.
And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Power
A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host.
Never such a power . . . Was levied in the body of a land.
Power
A large quantity; a great number; as, a power o good things.
Power
The rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power.
Power
A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc.
Power
The product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number.
Power
A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power.
Power
Mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc.
The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received belief.
Power
The degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface.
Power
An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment.
Power
Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power.
Power
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
Power
(physics) the rate of doing work; measured in watts (= joules/second)
Power
Possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done;
Danger heightened his powers of discrimination
Power
A state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world
Power
(of a government or government official) holding an office means being in power;
Being in office already gives a candidate a great advantage
During his first year in office
During his first year in power
The power of the president
Power
One possessing or exercising power or influence or authority;
The mysterious presence of an evil power
May the force be with you
The forces of evil
Power
Physical strength
Power
A mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself
Power
A very wealthy or powerful businessman;
An oil baron
Power
Supply the force or power for the functioning of;
The gasoline powers the engines
Common Curiosities
Can an object be powerful?
Yes, objects like machines or tools can be described as powerful if they possess great strength or effectiveness in their performance.
How can a speech be powerful?
A speech can be powerful if it strongly influences its listeners, sways opinions, or prompts action.
Is there a difference between having power and feeling powerful?
Yes, having power involves actual authority or capability, whereas feeling powerful is a subjective experience that may or may not correspond to actual power.
What makes a story or narrative powerful?
A story or narrative is powerful if it deeply affects the audience, causing strong emotions or inspiring significant changes in perspective.
Can power be negative?
Power can be perceived as negative if it is used oppressively or unjustly, leading to abuse or corruption.
What does it mean for a person to have power?
To have power typically means possessing the capacity to influence or control others’ actions, decisions, or beliefs.
What is the role of power in relationships?
Power in relationships can affect dynamics through decision-making authority, influence over choices, and control of shared resources.
What are examples of power in politics?
Examples of power in politics include legislative power, executive authority, and the power of political movements.
How is power distributed in a corporation?
Power in a corporation is typically distributed across different levels of management and governance, such as the board of directors, executives, and managers.
How can one become more powerful?
All factors being equal, projecting confidence and self-control can be perceived as power, which can enhance your appearance and demeanor, and help you become more powerful.
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
