energy

English Online Dictionary. What means energy‎? What does energy mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle French énergie, from Late Latin energia, from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia, “activity”), from ἐνεργός (energós, “active”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”). The sense in physics was coined by English polymath Thomas Young in 1802 in his lectures on Natural Philosophy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.ə.d͡ʒi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.ɚ.d͡ʒi/

Noun

energy (countable and uncountable, plural energies)

1. The impetus behind all motion and all activity.
2. The capacity to do work.

   Synonyms: pep, vigor, vim, vitality
3. (physics) A quantity that denotes the ability to do work and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance²/time² (ML²/T²) or the equivalent.

   Units:

   SI: joule (J), kilowatt-hour (kW·h)

   CGS: erg (erg)

   Customary: foot-pound-force, calorie, kilocalorie (i.e. dietary calories), BTU, liter-atmosphere, ton of TNT

4. An intangible, modifiable force (usually characterized as either 'positive' or 'negative') believed in some New Age religions to emanate from a person, place or thing and which is (or can be) preserved and transferred in human interactions; shared mood or group habit.
   • 2004, Phylameana L. Desy, The Everything Reiki Book, Body, Mind & Spirit, p.130

     Reiki, much like prayer, is a personal exercise that can easily convert negative energy into positive energy.
5. (Eastern Orthodoxy, theology, often in the plural) The external actions and influences resulting from an entity’s internal nature (ousia) and by which it is made manifest, as opposed to that internal nature itself; the aspect of an entity that can affect the wider world and be apprehended by other beings.
   • 2017, Stoyan Tanev, Energy in Orthodox Theology and Physics: From Controversy to Encounter, quoting and translating the conclusions of the Fifth Council of Constantinople (1351), page 2:

     We hold, further, that there are two energies in our Lord Jesus Christ. For He possesses on the one hand, as God and being of like essence with the Father, the divine energy, and, likewise, since He became man and of like essence to us, the energy proper to human nature. […] Energy is the efficient and essential activity of nature; the capacity for energy is the nature from which proceeds energy; the product of energy is that which is effected by energy; and the agent of energy is the person or subsistence which uses the energy.
6. (roleplaying games, video games, board games) A measure of how many actions a player or unit can take; in the fantasy genre often called magic points or mana.

   Synonym: action points

7. (Internet slang) An atmosphere, aura, or vibe.

   big dick energy; divorced guy energy; main character energy

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Cebuano: enerdyi
• → Japanese: エナジー (enajī)
• → Korean: 에너지 (eneoji)

Translations

References

• energy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• “energy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “energy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Greeny, greeny, greyen, gyrene