watt
noun
Simple meaning
In the International System of Units, the derived unit of power.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wahtIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɑt
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
In the International System of Units, the derived unit of power; the power of a system in which one joule of energy is transferred per second. Symbol: W
An Anglo-Saxon given name.
Watt, a king of Sussex.
An English and Scottish surname originating as a patronymic.
A ghost town in California, United States.
A diminutive of the male given name Walter, of medieval usage, variant of Wat.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In the International System of Units, the derived unit of power; the power of a system in which one joule of energy is transferred per second. Symbol: W
Used this way, watt is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Academic writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use watt
- “A 60-watt light bulb provides enough brightness for reading a book.”
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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 electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second.
A unit of energy equal to the power of one watt operating for one hour.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A unit of energy equal to the work done by a power of 1000 watts operating for one hour.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.