"power level" meaning in English

See power level in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-power level.wav Forms: power levels [plural]
Etymology: The figurative senses are a reference to the Japanese franchise Dragon Ball, where many characters have "power levels" indicating how powerful they are. Head templates: {{en-noun}} power level (plural power levels)
  1. (fandom slang, especially Japanese fiction) A symbolic and often arbitrary unit of measurement representing strength and fighting ability. Tags: Japanese, especially, slang
    Sense id: en-power_level-en-noun-eysoVVU4 Categories (other): Japanese fiction, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 72 10 14 4 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 78 7 9 5 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 81 6 8 5 Topics: fiction, lifestyle, literature, media, publishing
  2. (by extension, Internet slang) An interest or specialized knowledge in a subject seen as uncool, especially related to video games and otaku culture. Tags: Internet, broadly
    Sense id: en-power_level-en-noun-j8XZUI32
  3. (by extension, Internet slang, alt-right) Extreme political views, especially those on the far right. Tags: Internet, broadly
    Sense id: en-power_level-en-noun-HoMxiHfY Categories (other): Alt-right, Dragon Ball Disambiguation of Dragon Ball: 15 8 77 0
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see power, level.
    Sense id: en-power_level-en-noun-zMlZ0PnZ

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "The figurative senses are a reference to the Japanese franchise Dragon Ball, where many characters have \"power levels\" indicating how powerful they are.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "power levels",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "power level (plural power levels)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Japanese fiction",
          "orig": "en:Japanese fiction",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 10 14 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 7 9 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "81 6 8 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              7,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Miku's power level skyrockets up to 15,000 during the big battle in episode 31.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              51,
              62
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1997 April 19, Hiroshi Toda, “The Return of Goku”, in Minoru Okazaki, director, Dragon Ball Z, episode 21, (English dubbing of Japanese original):",
          "text": "Nappa: Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level? / Vegeta: It's over 9,000!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A symbolic and often arbitrary unit of measurement representing strength and fighting ability."
      ],
      "id": "en-power_level-en-noun-eysoVVU4",
      "links": [
        [
          "fandom",
          "fandom"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "Japanese",
          "Japanese#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "fiction",
          "fiction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fandom slang, especially Japanese fiction) A symbolic and often arbitrary unit of measurement representing strength and fighting ability."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Japanese",
        "especially",
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fiction",
        "lifestyle",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              87
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018 April 3, Sam Rutherford, “MSI's GS65 Stealth Is a Gaming Laptop Made for Adults”, in Gizmodo:",
          "text": "The black and gold paint job is a subtle but still stylish way to hide your power level.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An interest or specialized knowledge in a subject seen as uncool, especially related to video games and otaku culture."
      ],
      "id": "en-power_level-en-noun-j8XZUI32",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "interest",
          "interest"
        ],
        [
          "specialized",
          "specialized"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "subject",
          "subject"
        ],
        [
          "uncool",
          "uncool"
        ],
        [
          "video games",
          "video games"
        ],
        [
          "otaku",
          "otaku"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, Internet slang) An interest or specialized knowledge in a subject seen as uncool, especially related to video games and otaku culture."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Alt-right",
          "orig": "en:Alt-right",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 8 77 0",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Dragon Ball",
          "orig": "en:Dragon Ball",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              73,
              84
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 November 13, Shree Paradkar, “Massive fascist rally in Poland shows how the far right has perverted the word 'patriotism'”, in The Toronto Star:",
          "text": "The message of the posters originate from a strategy called \"Hiding your power level\" or publicly disavowing Nazis and painting any opposition to this message as anti-white racism, the news site reported.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              275,
              286
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019 November 22, Matthew Sheffield, “The Conservative Establishment's Nightmare Is Only Just Beginning”, in Washington Monthly:",
          "text": "The idea that minority Republicans would want to support a white nationalist makes little sense until one realizes that Fuentes is fond of using coded language to hide messages intended only for racists, a practice frequently referred to within the alt-right as \"hiding your power level.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              71,
              83
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 September 20, Travis View (quoted), Sam Brodey, “AZ Secretary of State Candidate Mark Finchem Campaigned With Sandy Hook Truther”, in The Daily Beast:",
          "text": "It'd be a signal to other candidates, that you don't have to hide your 'power level,' as extremists like to say.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              52,
              63
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 October 21, “How Kanye Pushed Balenciaga & Demna to Their Limit”, in Highsnobiety:",
          "text": "Over the past couple weeks, Kanye West revealed his power level, as the kids say. For starters, there was Ye's White Lives Matter T-shirt, which basically rendered everything else at his last-minute YZY SZN 9 fashion show irrelevant, the anti-Semitic tweets that got Ye booted off Twitter, and Ye's very public embrace of bigots like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Extreme political views, especially those on the far right."
      ],
      "id": "en-power_level-en-noun-HoMxiHfY",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "alt-right",
          "alt-right"
        ],
        [
          "political",
          "political"
        ],
        [
          "far right",
          "far right"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, Internet slang, alt-right) Extreme political views, especially those on the far right."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              54,
              65
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This is a heavy-duty fridge that operates on a higher power level than most households can supply.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see power, level."
      ],
      "id": "en-power_level-en-noun-zMlZ0PnZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "power",
          "power#English"
        ],
        [
          "level",
          "level#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-power level.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ad/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ad/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Dragon Ball"
  ],
  "word": "power level"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Dragon Ball",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Dragon Ball"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The figurative senses are a reference to the Japanese franchise Dragon Ball, where many characters have \"power levels\" indicating how powerful they are.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "power levels",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "power level (plural power levels)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English fandom slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "en:Japanese fiction"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              7,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Miku's power level skyrockets up to 15,000 during the big battle in episode 31.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              51,
              62
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1997 April 19, Hiroshi Toda, “The Return of Goku”, in Minoru Okazaki, director, Dragon Ball Z, episode 21, (English dubbing of Japanese original):",
          "text": "Nappa: Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level? / Vegeta: It's over 9,000!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A symbolic and often arbitrary unit of measurement representing strength and fighting ability."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fandom",
          "fandom"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "Japanese",
          "Japanese#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "fiction",
          "fiction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fandom slang, especially Japanese fiction) A symbolic and often arbitrary unit of measurement representing strength and fighting ability."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Japanese",
        "especially",
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fiction",
        "lifestyle",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English internet slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              87
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018 April 3, Sam Rutherford, “MSI's GS65 Stealth Is a Gaming Laptop Made for Adults”, in Gizmodo:",
          "text": "The black and gold paint job is a subtle but still stylish way to hide your power level.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An interest or specialized knowledge in a subject seen as uncool, especially related to video games and otaku culture."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "interest",
          "interest"
        ],
        [
          "specialized",
          "specialized"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "subject",
          "subject"
        ],
        [
          "uncool",
          "uncool"
        ],
        [
          "video games",
          "video games"
        ],
        [
          "otaku",
          "otaku"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, Internet slang) An interest or specialized knowledge in a subject seen as uncool, especially related to video games and otaku culture."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English internet slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Alt-right"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              73,
              84
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 November 13, Shree Paradkar, “Massive fascist rally in Poland shows how the far right has perverted the word 'patriotism'”, in The Toronto Star:",
          "text": "The message of the posters originate from a strategy called \"Hiding your power level\" or publicly disavowing Nazis and painting any opposition to this message as anti-white racism, the news site reported.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              275,
              286
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019 November 22, Matthew Sheffield, “The Conservative Establishment's Nightmare Is Only Just Beginning”, in Washington Monthly:",
          "text": "The idea that minority Republicans would want to support a white nationalist makes little sense until one realizes that Fuentes is fond of using coded language to hide messages intended only for racists, a practice frequently referred to within the alt-right as \"hiding your power level.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              71,
              83
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 September 20, Travis View (quoted), Sam Brodey, “AZ Secretary of State Candidate Mark Finchem Campaigned With Sandy Hook Truther”, in The Daily Beast:",
          "text": "It'd be a signal to other candidates, that you don't have to hide your 'power level,' as extremists like to say.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              52,
              63
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 October 21, “How Kanye Pushed Balenciaga & Demna to Their Limit”, in Highsnobiety:",
          "text": "Over the past couple weeks, Kanye West revealed his power level, as the kids say. For starters, there was Ye's White Lives Matter T-shirt, which basically rendered everything else at his last-minute YZY SZN 9 fashion show irrelevant, the anti-Semitic tweets that got Ye booted off Twitter, and Ye's very public embrace of bigots like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Extreme political views, especially those on the far right."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "alt-right",
          "alt-right"
        ],
        [
          "political",
          "political"
        ],
        [
          "far right",
          "far right"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, Internet slang, alt-right) Extreme political views, especially those on the far right."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              54,
              65
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This is a heavy-duty fridge that operates on a higher power level than most households can supply.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see power, level."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "power",
          "power#English"
        ],
        [
          "level",
          "level#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-power level.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ad/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ad/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-power_level.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Dragon Ball"
  ],
  "word": "power level"
}

Download raw JSONL data for power level meaning in English (5.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-01 using wiktextract (5ee713e and f1c2b61). 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.