Dictionaries › English

energy

Pronunciation: /ˈɛnəd͡ʒi/

The English word “energy” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The impetus behind all motion and all activity.
  2. The capacity to do work.
  3. A quantity that denotes the ability to do work and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance²/time² (ML²/T²) or the equivalent.
  4. An intangible, modifiable force (usually characterized as either 'positive' or 'negative') believed in some New Age religions to emanate from a person, place or thing and which is (or can be) preserved and transferred in human interactions; shared mood or group habit.
  5. The external actions and influences resulting from an entity’s internal nature (ousia) and by which it is made manifest, as opposed to that internal nature itself; the aspect of an entity that can affect the wider world and be apprehended by other beings.
  6. A measure of how many actions a player or unit can take; in the fantasy genre often called magic points or mana.
  7. An atmosphere, aura, or vibe.

Etymology

From Middle French énergie, from Late Latin energia, from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia, “activity”), from ἐνεργός (energós, “active”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”). The sense in physics was coined by English polymath Thomas Young in 1802 in his lectures on Natural Philosophy.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “energy” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.