"motive power" meaning in English

See motive power in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: motive powers [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-|s}} motive power (usually uncountable, plural motive powers)
  1. (sometimes figurative) The power that enables something to move. Tags: figuratively, sometimes, uncountable, usually Categories (topical): Rail transportation Synonyms: locomotion, motivity Derived forms: motive power depot, MPD (english: motive power depot) Translations (power that enables something to move): 動力 /动力 (dònglì) (Chinese Mandarin), 原動力 /原动力 (yuándònglì) (Chinese Mandarin), käyttövoima (Finnish), force motrice [feminine] (French), forza motrice [feminine] (Italian), fuerza motriz [feminine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-motive_power-en-noun-sdgTXzS2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 51 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 56 44 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 54 46 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 54 46 Disambiguation of 'power that enables something to move': 96 4
  2. (rail transport, collectively) The locomotives that operate on a railway. Tags: collective, uncountable, usually Categories (topical): Rail transportation
    Sense id: en-motive_power-en-noun--KC27NXq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 51 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 43 57 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 54 46 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 54 46 Topics: rail-transport, railways, transport

Inflected forms

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      "form": "motive powers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
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            "Fundamental"
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          "_dis": "56 44",
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      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "88 12",
          "word": "motive power depot"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "88 12",
          "english": "motive power depot",
          "word": "MPD"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Using electricity as motive power for railroads will do away with fuel trains, tenders, coal handling, water, and all that.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The power that enables something to move."
      ],
      "id": "en-motive_power-en-noun-sdgTXzS2",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sometimes figurative) The power that enables something to move."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "85 15",
          "word": "locomotion"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "85 15",
          "word": "motivity"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "sometimes",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "dònglì",
          "sense": "power that enables something to move",
          "word": "動力 /动力"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "yuándònglì",
          "sense": "power that enables something to move",
          "word": "原動力 /原动力"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "power that enables something to move",
          "word": "käyttövoima"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "power that enables something to move",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "force motrice"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "power that enables something to move",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "forza motrice"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "power that enables something to move",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "fuerza motriz"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Rail transportation",
          "orig": "en:Rail transportation",
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            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "_dis": "49 51",
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          "_dis": "50 50",
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          "_dis": "48 52",
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          "_dis": "54 46",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1950 January, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, pages 12–13:",
          "text": "While at first in the U.S.A. it may have been a matter of high-pressure salesmanship—and it has undoubtely been the irresistible enterprise of the General Motors Corporation, through its Electro-Motive subsidiary, that has set in motion this amazingly rapid transformation of American railway motive power, and has caused all the steam locomotive builders in the U.S.A. to follow suit or be left out in the cold—it seems now beyond dispute that, so far as the U.S.A. is concerned, the economics of the power question can be solved no other way.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The locomotives that operate on a railway."
      ],
      "id": "en-motive_power-en-noun--KC27NXq",
      "links": [
        [
          "rail transport",
          "rail transport"
        ],
        [
          "locomotive",
          "locomotive"
        ],
        [
          "railway",
          "railway"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rail transport, collectively) The locomotives that operate on a railway."
      ],
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        "usually"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "rail-transport",
        "railways",
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  "word": "motive power"
}
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    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
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    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
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  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "motive power depot"
    },
    {
      "english": "motive power depot",
      "word": "MPD"
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        "plural"
      ]
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        {
          "text": "Using electricity as motive power for railroads will do away with fuel trains, tenders, coal handling, water, and all that.",
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The power that enables something to move."
      ],
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        "(sometimes figurative) The power that enables something to move."
      ],
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        "sometimes",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
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          "text": "While at first in the U.S.A. it may have been a matter of high-pressure salesmanship—and it has undoubtely been the irresistible enterprise of the General Motors Corporation, through its Electro-Motive subsidiary, that has set in motion this amazingly rapid transformation of American railway motive power, and has caused all the steam locomotive builders in the U.S.A. to follow suit or be left out in the cold—it seems now beyond dispute that, so far as the U.S.A. is concerned, the economics of the power question can be solved no other way.",
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      "glosses": [
        "The locomotives that operate on a railway."
      ],
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rail transport, collectively) The locomotives that operate on a railway."
      ],
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        "usually"
      ],
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        "rail-transport",
        "railways",
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  ],
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      "word": "locomotion"
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    {
      "word": "motivity"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "dònglì",
      "sense": "power that enables something to move",
      "word": "動力 /动力"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "yuándònglì",
      "sense": "power that enables something to move",
      "word": "原動力 /原动力"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "power that enables something to move",
      "word": "käyttövoima"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "power that enables something to move",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "force motrice"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "power that enables something to move",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "forza motrice"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "power that enables something to move",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "fuerza motriz"
    }
  ],
  "word": "motive power"
}

Download raw JSONL data for motive power meaning in English (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (e4a2c88 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.