different between power vs action
power
English
Alternative forms
- powre (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English poer, from Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin *pot?re, from Latin possum, posse (“to be able”); see potent. Compare Modern French pouvoir. Displaced native Old English anweald.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?pa??(?)/, /?pa?.?(?)/
- (with triphthong smoothing) IPA(key): /pa?/, /pa?/, /p??/
- (General American) IPA(key): /?pa?.?/, /?pa??/, [?p?a???], [?p?a???]
- Rhymes: -a?.?(?), -a??(?)
- Hyphenation: pow?er
Noun
power (countable and uncountable, plural powers)
- Ability to do or undergo something.
- 2018, Marilyn McCord Adams, Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (page 74)
- If it is spirits who have power to suffer, it seems they would also have active powers to think and will.
- 2018, Marilyn McCord Adams, Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (page 74)
- (social) Ability to coerce, influence or control.
- (countable) Ability to affect or influence.
- An incident which happened about this time will set the characters of these two lads more fairly before the discerning reader than is in the power of the longest dissertation.
- Thwackum, on the contrary, maintained that the human mind, since the fall, was nothing but a sink of iniquity, till purified and redeemed by grace. […] The favourite phrase of the former, was the natural beauty of virtue; that of the latter, was the divine power of grace.
- 1998, Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
- Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present.
- Control or coercion, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction).
- 1949, Eric Blair, aka George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
- The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. [...] We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
- 2005, Columbia Law Review, April
- In the face of expanding federal power, California in particular struggled to maintain control over its Chinese population.
- 1949, Eric Blair, aka George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
- (metonymically, chiefly in the plural) The people in charge of legal or political power, the government.
- Synonym: powers that be
- (metonymically) An influential nation, company, or other such body.
- (countable) Ability to affect or influence.
- (physical, uncountable) Effectiveness.
- Physical force or strength.
- Electricity or a supply of electricity.
- A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
- The strength by which a lens or mirror magnifies an optical image.
- Physical force or strength.
- (colloquial, dated) A large amount or number.
- The threatning words of duke Robert comming at the last to king Henries eares, caused him foorthwith to conceiue verie sore displeasure against a power of men sent into Normandie.
- 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
- (physics, mechanics) 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.
- (mathematics)
- 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.
- (set theory) Cardinality.
- (statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
- (biblical, in the plural) In Christian angelology, an intermediate level of angels, ranked above archangels, but exact position varies by classification scheme.
Usage notes
- Adjectives often used with "power": electric, nuclear, optical, mechanical, political, absolute, corporate, institutional, military, economic, solar, magic, magical, huge, physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, sexual, seductive, coercive, erotic, natural, cultural, positive, negative, etc.
Synonyms
Antonyms
- impotence
- weakness
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- ? German: Power
- ? Welsh: p?er
Translations
Verb
power (third-person singular simple present powers, present participle powering, simple past and past participle powered)
- (transitive) To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device).
- This CD player is powered by batteries.
- (transitive) To hit or kick something forcefully.
- To enable or provide the impetus for.
Derived terms
- power down
- power up
- empower
Translations
Adjective
power (comparative more power, superlative most power)
- (Singapore, colloquial) Impressive.
Further reading
- power at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- powre
German
Etymology 1
From French pauvre, from Latin pauper.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?po?v?r/, [?po?v?]
- Hyphenation: po?wer
Adjective
power (comparative powerer, superlative am powersten)
- (regional, informal) poor, miserable
Declension
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?pa???r/, [?pa???]
- Homophone: Power
Verb
power
- singular imperative of powern
- (colloquial) first-person singular present of powern
Further reading
- “power” in Duden online
power From the web:
- what powers the water cycle
- what powers does the president have
- what power supply do i need
- what powers does congress have
- what powers does the legislative branch have
- what powers does the executive branch have
- what powers does the judicial branch have
- what powers the sun
action
English
Etymology
From Middle English accion, from Old French aucion,acciun, from Latin ?cti? (“act of doing or making”), from ?ctus, perfect passive participle of ag? (“do, act”), + action suffix -i?; see act.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?æk.??n/
- Rhymes: -æk??n
- Hyphenation: ac?tion
Noun
action (countable and uncountable, plural actions)
- Something done, often so as to accomplish a purpose.
- A way of motion or functioning.
- Fast-paced activity.
- A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.
- (music) The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like a piano, which transfers the motion of the key to the sound-making device.
- (music) The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on a guitar.
- (slang) Sexual intercourse.
- (military) Combat.
- (law) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).
- (mathematics) A mapping from a pairing of mathematical objects to one of them, respecting their individual structures. The pairing is typically a Cartesian product or a tensor product. The object that is not part of the output is said to act on the other object. In any given context, action is used as an abbreviation for a more fully named notion, like group action or left group action.
- (physics) The product of energy and time, especially the product of the Lagrangian and time.
- The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events.
- (art, painting and sculpture) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
- (bowling) spin put on the bowling ball.
- (obsolete) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds.
- 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:
- So saying he presented him with two actions of above two thousand livres each.
- 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
- the Euripus of funds and actions
- 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:
Synonyms
- (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- ? German: Action
- ? Russian: ???? (ekšn)
Translations
See also
- deed
- Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take
References
- action on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Interjection
action!
- Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually a performance.
- Antonym: cut
Translations
Verb
action (third-person singular simple present actions, present participle actioning, simple past and past participle actioned)
- (transitive, management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
- (transitive, chiefly archaic) To initiate a legal action against someone.
Usage notes
- The verb sense action is rejected by some usage authorities.
References
- OED 2nd edition 1989
- Notes:
Further reading
- action in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- action in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- Catino, actino-, atonic, cation, cation-?
French
Etymology
From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed in Middle French to resemble the Latin acti?.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ak.sj??/
- Homophone: axion
Noun
action f (plural actions)
- action, act, deed
- campaign
- stock, share
- (Switzerland) a special offer
Derived terms
Further reading
- “action” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Anagrams
- cation, contai
Interlingua
Noun
action (plural actiones)
- action
Related terms
- active
- activitate
Middle English
Noun
action
- Alternative form of accion
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed to resemble the Latin acti?.
Noun
action f (plural actions)
- action; act
Descendants
- French: action
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English accion.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ak???n/
Noun
action (plural actions)
- action
Verb
action (third-person singular present actions, present participle actionin, past actiont, past participle actiont)
- to action
References
- Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.
action From the web:
- what actions characterize authoritarian governments
- what action leads to reapportionment
- what action movie should i watch
- what action minimizes the risk of air
- what are five characteristics of authoritarian governments
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