[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/pow/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [P](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/p/) / pow

# pow

interjection (pow!); noun (POW, POWs — abbreviation); noun (a pow — rare)

«pow» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A word for the sound of a punch, a bang or a small explosion, used in comics and cartoons: «Pow! Biff! Bang!» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#m1)
2. (POW, abbreviation) A prisoner of war: a soldier captured and held by the enemy during a war. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#m2)
3. (informal) A word to show something sudden and exciting happened: «And then, pow, the lights went out.» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#m3)

### In the lessons

In comics it is a sound word (onomatopoeia) that makes action feel loud. In history lessons POW camps held captured soldiers in the World Wars. Phrases: «pow!», «POW camp», «a former POW».

### Examples

- In the comic, the hero's fist went «Pow!» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x1)
- Write some sound words like «pow», «crash» and «boom». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x2)
- My great-grandad was a POW in the Second World War. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x3)
- The POWs were sent home when the war ended. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x4)
- We were walking along and, pow, it started pouring with rain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x5)
- The fireworks went pow, pow, pow over the river. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x6)
- Den he draw back en come down on de tree--pow! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/#x7)

### Note

As a sound word it is often written in capitals with an exclamation mark: POW! As the abbreviation it is written POW (plural POWs) and read as letters, P-O-W. Pow is an onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like what it means.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «pow» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pow/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«pow» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/pow.html) on Mova free.