different between power vs labour
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
labour
English
Alternative forms
- labor (American)
Etymology
From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare (“(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert oneself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate”), from labor (“labor, toil, work, exertion”); perhaps remotely akin to robur (“strength”). Displaced native English swink (“toil, labor”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /?le?.b?/
- (US) IPA(key): /?le?.b?/
- Rhymes: -e?b?(?)
Noun
labour (countable and uncountable, plural labours) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
- (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
- The act of a mother giving birth.
- The time period during which a mother gives birth.
- (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
- An old measure of land area in Mexico and Texas, approximately 177 acres.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)
Usage notes
Like many others ending in -our/-or, this word is spelled labour in the UK and labor in the U.S.; in Canada, labour is preferred, but labor is not unknown. In Australia, labour is the standard spelling, but the Australian Labour Party, founded 1908, "modernised" its spelling to Australian Labor Party in 1912, at the suggestion of American-born King O'Malley, who was a prominent leader in the ALP.
- Adjectives often used with "labour": physical, mental, skilled, technical, organised.
Synonyms
- swink, toil, work
Derived terms
- labour-intensive
- (The act of a mother giving birth): labour pain
Related terms
- laborious
- laboural
Translations
Verb
labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- (intransitive) To toil, to work.
- (transitive) To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
- I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.
- To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
- 1726, George Granville, Love
- the stone that labours up the hill
- 1726, George Granville, Love
- To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
- (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)
Derived terms
- labourer
- labourism
- labourist
- labourite
- labour-saving
- marmalade labour
Related terms
- laboratory
Translations
Further reading
- labour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- labour in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- labour at OneLook Dictionary Search
- "labour" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 176.
Breton
Noun
labour
- work, job
French
Etymology
Deverbal of labourer. See also labeur.
Noun
labour m (plural labours)
- cultivation
Related terms
- labourable
- labourage
- labourer
Further reading
- “labour” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Old French
Noun
labour m (oblique plural labours, nominative singular labours, nominative plural labour)
- (late Anglo-Norman) Alternative spelling of labur
Noun
labour
- nominative plural of labour
labour From the web:
- what labour pain feels like
- what labour means
- what labour feels like
- what labour market
- what labour force
- what labourers do
- what labour union
- what labour party stands for
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