different between power vs behest
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
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- what powers the sun
behest
English
Etymology
From Middle English biheste, from Old English beh?s (“vow, promise”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“be-”), *haisiz (“command”), from *haitan? (“to command”). Final -t by analogy with other similar words in -t. Related to Old English beh?tan (“to command, promise”), Middle Low German beheit, beh?t (“a promise”). Compare also hest (“command”), hight.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /bi?h?st/
Noun
behest (plural behests)
- A command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of. [from 12th c.]
- 2009, “What a waste”, The Economist, 15 Oct 2009:
- the House of Representatives will try to water down even this feeble effort at the behest of the unions whose members enjoy some of the most lavish policies.
- 2011, Owen Gibson, The Guardian, 24 Mar 2011:
- The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, is to meet with the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, at the behest of the Premier League in a bid to resolve their long-running feud.
- 2009, “What a waste”, The Economist, 15 Oct 2009:
- (obsolete) A vow; a promise.
- c. 1440, Markaryte Paston, letter to John Paston
- The time is come that I should send it her, if I keep the behest that I have made.
- c. 1440, Markaryte Paston, letter to John Paston
Translations
Verb
behest (third-person singular simple present behests, present participle behesting, simple past and past participle behested)
- (obsolete) To promise; vow.
Anagrams
- Bethes, Thebes, Thêbes, bethes, thebes
behest From the web:
- behest meaning
- behest what is the definition
- what is behest loan
- what does behest
- what are behested payments
- what does behest mean in sentence
- what do behest means
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