(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If someone has ~, they have a lot of control over people and activities.
In a democracy, ~ must be divided.
...a political ~ struggle between the Liberals and National Party.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
Your ~ to do something is your ability to do it.
Human societies have the ~ to solve the problems confronting them...
He was so drunk that he had lost the ~ of speech.
N-UNCOUNT: usu N to-inf, N of n
3.
If it is in or within your ~ to do something, you are able to do it or you have the resources to deal with it.
Your debt situation is only temporary, and it is within your ~ to resolve it...
N-UNCOUNT: poss N
4.
If someone in authority has the ~ to do something, they have the legal right to do it.
The police have the ~ of arrest...
N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl, oft the N to-inf
5.
If people take ~ or come to ~, they take charge of a country’s affairs. If a group of people are in ~, they are in charge of a country’s affairs.
In 1964 Labour came into ~...
He first assumed ~ in 1970...
The party has been in ~ since independence in 1964.
N-UNCOUNT: oft in N
6.
You can use ~ to refer to a country that is very rich or important, or has strong military forces.
In Western eyes, Iraq is a major ~ in an area of great strategic importance.
N-COUNT: usu supp N
7.
The ~ of something is the ability that it has to move or affect things.
The Roadrunner had better ~, better tyres, and better brakes.
...massive computing ~.
N-UNCOUNT: usu supp N
8.
Power is energy, especially electricity, that is obtained in large quantities from a fuel source and used to operate lights, heating, and machinery.
Nuclear ~ is cleaner than coal...
Power has been restored to most parts that were hit last night by high winds...
N-UNCOUNT
9.
The device or fuel that ~s a machine provides the energy that the machine needs in order to work.
The ‘flywheel’ battery, it is said, could ~ an electric car for 600 miles on a single charge...
VERB: V n
-~ed
...battery-~ed radios.
...nuclear-~ed submarines.
COMB in ADJ
see also high-~ed
10.
Power tools are operated by electricity.
...large ~ tools, such as chainsaws.
...a ~ drill.
? hand
ADJ: ADJ n
11.
In mathematics, ~ is used in expressions such as 2 to the ~ of 4 or 2 to the 4th ~ to indicate that 2 must be multiplied by itself 4 times. This is written in numbers as 24, or 2 x 2 x 2 x 2, which equals 16.
N-SING: to the N of num, to the ord N
12.
You can refer to people in authority as the ~s that be, especially when you want to say that you disagree with them or do not understand what they say or do.
The ~s that be, in this case the independent Television Association, banned the advertisement altogether...
PHRASE