might
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: mīt
ipa: /maɪt/
ipa: [maɪt]
ipa: [mɐɪt]
ipa: [mɑjt]
ipa: [məjt]
ipa: [mɑɪt]
homophone: mite
rhymes: -aɪt
Forms: form: mights
form: mite
Etymology: From Middle English myght, might (also maught, macht, maht), from Old English miht, mieht, meaht, mæht (“might, bodily strength, power, authority, ability, virtue, mighty work, miracle, angel”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahti, from Proto-Germanic *mahtiz, *mahtuz (“might, power”), from Proto-Indo-European *mógʰtis, *megʰ- (“to allow, be able, help”), corresponding to Germanic *maganą + *-þiz. Equivalent to may + -th.
Cognate with Scots micht, maucht (“might”), North Frisian macht (“might, ability”), West Frisian macht (“might, ability”), Dutch macht (“might, power”), German Macht (“power, might”), Swedish makt (“might”), Norwegian makt (“power”), Icelandic máttur (“might”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts), and further to Russian мочь (močʹ, “power, might”) and мощь (moščʹ, “force, strength”), Ukrainian міч (mič) and міць (micʹ, “power”), Bulgarian мощ (mošt, “power, might”), Serbo-Croatian moć (“power”), Czech moc (“power”), Polish moc (“power”). See more at may.
Senses: examples: text: […]ſtrengthed with all myght, thꝛough his gloꝛious power, unto all pacience and long ſufferyng with ioifulneſſe[…]
ref: 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epiſtles and Goſpelles, to be uſed at the celebꝛacion of the loꝛdes Supper, & holy Communion, thꝛough the yere, with pꝛoper Pſalmes and Leſſons, for diuers feaſtes and dayes”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio xcvii, recto:
text: This is the richest, the most powerful country which ever occupied this globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the president who built empires or sought grandeur or extended dominion. I want to be the president who educated young children to the wonders of their world.
ref: 1965 March 15, Lyndon B. Johnson, 43:30 from the start, in Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506., Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum:
text: Since every nation considers itself right, peace lies in balancing the military mights of the possible rivals.
ref: 1969, [unattributed], Journal of the United Service Institution of India, volume 99, page 115:
text: The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act had abolished slavery completely in the British Empire, and this, along with the fact that the Empire's military and economic might was beginning to pull even further ahead of other nations', thanks in part to the Industrial Revolution, saw the squadron expand to around twenty-five ships (regularly having to be swapped out because of the high incidence of tropical disease)[…]
ref: 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 7:26 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:
synonyms: word: authority
word: potency
word: authority
word: disposition
word: might
word: potence
word: potency
word: power
word: strength
word: virtue
glosses: Power, strength, force, or influence held by a person or group.
examples: text: He pushed with all his might, but still it would not move.
synonyms: brawn
fortitude
pith
glosses: Physical strength or force.
glosses: The ability to do something.
Derived terms: almighty
might and main
mighteous
mightful
mightiness
might is right
mightless
mightly
might makes right
mightsome
mighty
unmight
with all one's might