horsepower
noun
Simple meaning
Power derived from the motion of a horse.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hawrspowerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɔɹspaʊɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A nonmetric unit of power with various definitions, commonly the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.
literallyuncountable
Power derived from the motion of a horse.
figurativeuncountable
Strength, performance capability, specs, or similar.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A nonmetric unit of power with various definitions, commonly the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.
Used this way, horsepower is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is an engineering use: it is a working term used for accuracy on the job.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Science
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use horsepower
- “The new car had an impressive amount of horsepower, making it very fast.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A unit of work equal to the work done by one horsepower in one hour.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: nonmetric unit of power with various definitions
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.