noun · neutral
power
UK/ˈpaʊə(r)/US/ˈpaʊər/POW·er
Band 5-6task2speaking
ability to influence, control, or supply energy
Examples
“The new engine has more power than the old one.”
“She holds a lot of political power in the city.”
“When the storm hit, we lost power for hours.”
Band 8 sentence
“The government's new regulation proved a powerful incentive for businesses to reduce emissions.”
Collocations
- hold power
- power outage / lose power
- a powerful tool
Word family
power nounpowerful adjectivepowerfully adverbpowerlessness nounpowerless adjectiveempower verbempowerment noun
Common mistakes
My phone is powerless.→My phone has no power / My phone is out of battery.
He is very powerful person.→He is a very powerful person.
Say it for a higher band
5strong→6influential→7+powerful
Synonyms
strength
authority
Easily confused
powerful
“The new policy is a powerful tool for reducing pollution.”
powerless
“Citizens felt powerless against the unfair law.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In -ful / -less
Learn it with its set