What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Effort vs Power - What's the difference?

effort | power | Synonyms |

Effort is a synonym of power.


As nouns the difference between effort and power

is that effort is the work involved in performing an activity; exertion while power is a button of a computer, a video game console, or similar device, that when pressed, causes the device to be either shut down or powered up.

As a verb effort

is (uncommon|intransitive) to make an effort.

effort

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The work involved in performing an activity; exertion.
  • * , chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=June 22, author=Press Association, work=The Guardian
  • , title= Manchester United offer Park Ji-sung a new two-year contract , passage=The 30-year-old South Korean, who joined United in 2005, retired from international duty after last season's Asian Cup in an effort to prolong his club}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}
  • An endeavour.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}
  • A force acting on a body in the direction of its motion.
  • (Rankine)

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "effort": conscious, good, poor, etc.

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * best efforts * centre of effort * effort distance * effortless * make an effort

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (uncommon) To make an effort.
  • (obsolete) To stimulate.
  • * Fuller
  • He efforted his spirits.

    Statistics

    * ----

    power

    English

    (wikipedia power)

    Alternative forms

    * powre (obsolete)

    Noun

  • (social) Effectiveness.
  • # (countable) Capability 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.
  • #* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad, chapter=4 citation , passage=“[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. […]”}}
  • #* 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, 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.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}
  • # (chiefly in the plural) The people in charge of legal or political power, the government.
  • # An influential nation, company, or other such body.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author= John Vidal
  • , volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas , passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers , India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.}}
  • (physical, uncountable) Effectiveness.
  • # Physical force or strength.
  • # Electricity or a supply of electricity.
  • #* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad, chapter=4 citation , passage=“My father had ideas about conservation long before the United States took it up.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • # A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
  • # A rate to magnify an optical image by a lens or mirror.
  • (mathematics) Effectiveness.
  • # A product of equal factors. Notation and usage: x''''n'', read as "''x'' to the power of ''n''" or "''x'' to the ''n''th power", denotes ''x'' × ''x'' × ... × ''x'', in which ''x'' appears ''n'' times, where ''n is called the exponent; the definition is extended to non-integer and complex exponents.
  • # (set theory) Cardinality.
  • # (statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
  • (biblical, in 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, solar, 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

    * energy * force * main * might * muscle * potency * sinew * strength * vigor * aptitude * capability * capacity * competence * competency * authority * command * control * dominion * grip * hold * mastery * influence * pull * weight * arm * sway * clout * See also

    Antonyms

    * impotence * weakness

    Derived terms

    * absolute power * Black Power * candlepower * empower * flower power * hard power * horsepower * in power * institutional power * moral power * more power to your elbow * nuclear power * optical power * personal power * political power * poor power * power consumption * power of attorney * power base * power behind the throne * power broker * power cut * power-egg * power forward * powerful * power jam * powerless * powerlike * power play, powerplay * power set * powers that be * power struggle * power trip, power-trip, powertrip * power user * power vacuum * social power * soft power * solar power * superpower * white power * wind power

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device).
  • This CD player is powered by batteries.
  • To hit or kick something forcefully.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=February 1 , author=Mandeep Sanghera , title=Man Utd 3 - 1 Aston Villa , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=United keeper Edwin van der Sar was the unlikely provider as his clearance found Rooney, who had got ahead of last defender Richard Dunne, and the forward brilliantly controlled a ball coming from over his shoulder before powering a shot past Brad Friedel. }}

    Derived terms

    * power down * power up * empower

    Statistics

    *