might
nounEtymology
From Middle English maught, might, miȝt, myght, from Old English maht, meaht, meht, mieht, miht, mæht (“ability, power; strength; virtue”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahti, from Proto-Germanic *mahtiz (“ability, power; force, strength”), from Proto-Indo-European *(me)mógʰe (“to be able to, to have power”), from *megʰ- (“to be able”), corresponding to Germanic *maganą (“to be able, may”) + *-þiz. Equivalent to may + -th. Cognates Cognate with Scots micht (“might”), Yola mought (“might”), Dutch macht (“might, power”), German Macht (“might, power”), Luxembourgish Muecht (“authority, might, power”), Yiddish מאַכט (makht, “might, power”), Faroese and Icelandic máttur (“might, strength”), Danish magt (“power; force”), Norwegian Bokmål makt (“power”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish makt (“power; force”), mått (“might, power”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts, “ability, might, power”), and further to Irish smacht (“ordinance, regulation, rule; dominion, sway; control, discipline, restraint; fine, penalty”), Greek μάγος (mágos, “magician; sorcerer, wizard”), Lithuanian mėgti (“to like”), Belarusian моц (moc, “might, power”), Bulgarian мощ (mošt, “might, power”), Czech and Polish moc (“might, power”), Macedonian моќ (moḱ, “might, power”), Russian мочь (močʹ, “power, might”) and мощь (moščʹ, “force, strength”), Serbo-Croatian мо̑ћ, mȏć (“power; strength; potency; authority”), Slovene moč (“power; strength”), Ukrainian міч (mič) and міць (micʹ, “might, power”), Armenian մոգ (mog, “magus; fire-worshiper, Zoroastrian; astrologer; diviner, enchanter, sorcerer, wizard”), Persian مغ (moġ, “magus”), Sanskrit मघ (magha, “power, wealth; bounty, gift, reward”). See more at may.
Definitions
Power, strength, force, or influence held by a person or group.
- […]ſtrengthed with all myght, thꝛough his gloꝛious power, unto all pacience and long ſufferyng with ioifulneſſe[…]
- Since every nation considers itself right, peace lies in balancing the military mights of the possible rivals.
Physical strength or force.
- He pushed with all his might, but still it would not move.
The ability to do something.
›+ 7 more definitionsshow fewer
Mighty
Mighty; powerful.
Possible.
simple past of may
- He asked me if he might go to the party, but I haven't decided yet.
- I thought that I might go the next day.
- Let's finish this task so that we might go home asap.
Used to indicate conditional or possible actions
Used to indicate conditional or possible actions; would perhaps/maybe.
- Well, I might go to a party, but I haven't decided yet.
- The characterism of an honest man: He looks not to what he might do, but what he should.
Used concessively to admit something before making a more accurate or important statement
Used concessively to admit something before making a more accurate or important statement; although
- I might be in a wheelchair, but I still want to be treated as a lady.
- I might play football, but I do know how to read.
Used in polite requests for permission.
- "Might I take the last biscuit? I wonder if I might have a little more coffee too." "Yes you may, help yourself.".
Used to express certainty.
- Yeah, I think we might need something a bit sturdier.
The neighborhood
- neighborcould
Derived
almighty, might and main, mighteous, mightful, mightiness, might is right, mightless, mightly, might makes right, mightsome, mighty, unmight, with all one's might, if I might be so bold, might as well, might-be, might can, might could, might-have-been, might should, monkeys might fly out of my butt, pigs might fly, so crazy it just might work, so crazy it might just work, try as one might
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for might. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA