superpowern.
/ˈsuːpəˌpaʊə/, /ˈsjuːpəˌpaʊə/, U.S. /ˈsupərˌpaʊər/ 1.
a. Exceptional or extraordinary power or ability. Also as a count noun.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > power > [noun] > great or supreme power
majestyc1375
power of life and death1553
universality1565
potentacy1576
trespuissance1587
superpower1849
magnipotence1854
1849 Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 18: Pt. i 124 If..god-like super-power had been one of his objects.., then the tiers of the Buddhist heavens might have been filled with thousands of such spiritualities.
1865 A. J. Davis Morning Lect. 294 This super-power—this magnificent feeling of personal monarchy—is what each soul wants.
1913 Med. Council Sept. 325/1 Various super-doctors blessed with super-powers.
1922 D. H. Lawrence Aaron's Rod (N.Y. ed.) xviii. 269 Newly flushed with his own male super-power, he was going to have his reward.
1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 June 39/2 We do not..have a monopoly of ‘superpower’ in our world, as Rome had in hers.
2006 N.Y. Mag. 15 May 26/2 Kaavya..suggested that it isn't a disorder but a mental superpower that explains her unconscious copying, not kleptomania but a photographic memory.
b. spec. in Science Fiction. A fictional superhuman power, esp. as possessed by a superhero; a fictional ability beyond what is possible based on scientific laws.
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the world > action or operation > ability > [noun] > an ability or power > marvellous
prodigiosity1910
superpower1945
1945 Supersnipe Comics Apr. 36 I heard what you were talkin' about, and I , the mighty Supersnipe - will use all my super-powers to stop you!
1952 E. Hamilton in Superman May 1 (in figure) Superman, mighty man of steel whose super-powers have conquered catastrophes and wrecked wrong-doers!
1966 A. Panshin in Riverside Q. Jan. 45 The story's premises are not true: there are no Martians of the sort Heinlein writes of, and no super powers are available to those who think proper Martian thoughts.
2001 N. Hornby How to be Good vii. 108 I'm like one of those American comic-book guys. Spiderman and all them. It changed my molecular make-up. Gave me superpowers.
2008 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Oct. 203/1 You don't need superpowers to be a genuine hero, although they help, especially when fending off fighter jets or intergalactoids.
2. A nation or state with dominant power and influence in world politics; spec. the United States of America and (formerly) the Soviet Union. Also in extended use.
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the world > people > nations > [noun] > having a dominant position in world politics
superpower1911
society > authority > power > [noun] > powerful person or body > powerful state or nation > types of
ocean power1713
colonial power1801
sea power1849
occupying power1866
superpower1911
1911 Times 12 Aug. 3/6 A tax in territory is to be paid to Germany for any increase of power or influence of any other State, just as if she were some super-Power controlling all others.
1957 Foreign Affairs 35 177 Britain is no longer a Super-Power.
1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) ii. 54 Capital investments cleverly pried from the rivalry between the two superpowers (and that shadowy third, China, that has the size but not as it were the mass, the substance, to be called super).
1984 Sunday Times 9 Dec. 3/2 Britain is becoming a superpower in chess.
1990 H. Rosovsky Univ. Owner's Man. vii. 123 Despite superpower status, we are becoming a smaller part of the world.
2006 S. Jacobs Cold War Mandarin 10 Communist and anticommunist superpowers shifted their focus from deadlock in Europe to..the so-called third world of Africa.
3. Originally and chiefly U.S. Electric power produced by the coordination and interconnection of existing power plants for greater economy and efficiency. Chiefly attributive. Now historical.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical power, electricity > [noun] > from several plants
superpower1912
1912 Franklin Inst. Year Bk. 113 Goodwin, H., Jr., Electrical Engineer, Superpower Survey.
1921 W. S. Murray in Prof. Papers U.S. Geol. Surv. No. 123. 11 On first presenting the subject considered in this report to the late Secretary of the Interior..I used the word ‘superpower’ to describe a system that would furnish power to the railroads and the industries within the territory between Boston and Washington that has now become more familiarly known as the superpower zone.
1921 Independent 24 Dec. 317/2 The probable issues of super-power seem to make such a body [sc. a Federal control agency] inevitable.
1937 Rotarian Dec. 18/2 Engineers are experimenting with superpower projects that will pipe electric power without great loss to distant industrial concentrations.
1983 T. P. Hughes Networks of Power xi. 297 Only one month after World War I ended, William S. Murray..urged the secretary of the interior to prepare the ground for this superpower system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1849