Meaning & use
superpower
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Meanings
nouncountable
A country that has great military, economic, and political power and can strongly influence world events.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a superpower, the superpowers, or two superpowers.
Patterns
- a global superpower
- an economic superpower
- the world's only superpower
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union became the world's two superpowers.
China is now widely seen as an economic superpower.
Small nations often have to balance their relationships with rival superpowers.
nouncountableinformal
An extraordinary ability or special strength that someone has, often used informally or in stories about heroes.
Grammar: Countable and usually singular in this sense: my superpower is ...
Patterns
- someone's superpower is something
- a hidden superpower
Her superpower is staying calm when everyone else is panicking.
In the movie, his superpower is the ability to read minds.
Patience might be the most useful superpower a teacher can have.
Word forms
| plural | superpowers |
|---|
Common combinations
- global superpower
- The country emerged as a global superpower after the war.
- economic superpower
- Its fast-growing industries turned it into an economic superpower.
- military superpower
- Only a few nations can afford to be a military superpower.
- superpower status
- Many analysts question whether it can maintain superpower status.
- rival superpowers
- The two rival superpowers competed for influence in the region.
Synonyms and how they differ
- great power
- A great power is strong and influential but usually less dominant than a superpower.
- world power
- World power is a looser term for a country with global influence; superpower suggests even greater strength.
Word family
- superpowered adjective
- Having extraordinary abilities, especially in fiction.
Commonly confused: superpower or superpowered?
superpower vs superpowered
Superpowered is an adjective meaning having special abilities; superpower is the noun for the ability or the country.
Practice
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States was often described as the world's only ___.
Choose one answer.
The singular noun superpower fits after 'the world's only'. 'Superpowers' is plural and would not follow 'only'; 'superpowered' is an adjective; 'superpowering' is not a standard form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “superpower”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.