Definition

1. Noun:
   • The capacity for vigorous activity; vitality and intensity: "Energy" refers to the physical and mental strength that allows someone to be active and do things.
   • The power derived from physical or chemical resources to provide light, heat, or work: In physics and technology, "energy" is the quantitative property that must be transferred to an object to perform work or heat it.
   • The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity: It can describe a person's feeling of having the power to be active.
   • A feeling of possessing such strength and vitality; enthusiasm and determination: It can describe a person's dynamic quality or the forceful quality of an action or style.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • She puts all her energy into her work. (She uses all her strength and focus for her work.)
  • The company is investing in renewable energy. (The company is putting money into power sources like wind or solar.)
  • After a good night's sleep, I have more energy. (After sleeping well, I feel more capable of activity.)
  • He answered the questions with great energy. (He answered with enthusiasm and force.)

Advanced Usage

• "To conserve energy": to avoid using too much power or personal vitality.
  • We turn off lights to conserve energy.
• "A burst of energy": a sudden, short period of high activity or vitality.
  • The team had a final burst of energy in the last minutes of the game.
• "To channel one's energy into something": to direct one's efforts and focus toward a specific activity.
  • She channels her creative energy into painting.

Variants and Related Words

• Energetic (adj): showing or involving great activity or vitality.
  • He is an energetic teacher.
• Energize (verb): to give vitality and enthusiasm to; to supply power to a system.
  • The speech energized the crowd.

Synonyms

• Vitality: The state of being strong and active; liveliness.
• Vigor: Physical strength and good health.
• Drive: Determination and energy to achieve things.
• Power: The ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Energy up (informal): To make someone feel more energetic or lively.
  • A cup of coffee in the morning helps to energy me up.

Related Idioms

• A bundle of energy: A person who is very lively and active.
  • The toddler is a real bundle of energy.
• To have more money than sense: (Note: This idiom is unrelated to "energy" and is included here as a demonstration of what to do. For "energy," a relevant idiom is below.)
• To run out of steam: To lose energy and enthusiasm; to become tired. (This is a metaphorical idiom related to energy.)
  • I started the project well, but I've run out of steam.

Noun

1. the federal department responsible for maintaining a national energy policy of the United States; created in 1977
2. any source of usable power
   • the DOE is responsible for maintaining the energy policy
3. a healthy capacity for vigorous activity
   • jogging works off my excess energy
   • he seemed full of vim and vigor
4. an imaginative lively style (especially style of writing)
   • his writing conveys great energy
   • a remarkable muscularity of style
5. enterprising or ambitious drive
   • Europeans often laugh at American energy
6. forceful exertion
   • he plays tennis with great energy
   • he's full of zip
7. (physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
   • energy can take a wide variety of forms