powder

UK/ˈpaʊ.də(ɹ)/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northumbria/ˈpuː.dɐ/

powder noun: the fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust. Also the ellipsis of powder snow.

Image: Ben Mills, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

powder (countable and uncountable, plural powders)

The fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust.
- Let me goe grin'd their Bones to powder ſmall, […]c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Let them stop fretting about vegetables denied by the weather and eat chilli powder. Just explain to them that they really shouldn’t think about spiralising it, because that doesn’t work.2017 February 3, Deborah Orr, “Veg crisis, what veg crisis? If we can’t have courgettes, then let us eat kale”, in The Guardian
1. (slang) Cocaine in powder form (as opposed to crack).
A mixture of fine dry, sweet-smelling particles applied to the face or other body parts, to reduce shine or to alleviate chaffing.
- She was redolent of violet sachet powder, and had warm, soft, white hands, but she danced divinely, moving as smoothly as the tide coming in.1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl
An explosive mixture used in gunnery, blasting, etc.; gunpowder.
- Tut, tut, good enough to toſſe: foode for Powder, foode for Powder: they'll fill a Pit, as well as better: tuſh man, mortall men, mortall men.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Verb

powder (third-person singular simple present powders, present participle powdering, simple past and past participle powdered)

(transitive) To reduce to fine particles; to pound, grind, or rub into a powder.
- 25 October 2016, Bettina Elias Siegel writing in New York Times, Should the Food Industry Sneak Vegetables Into Food?
  In desperation, they dried fruits and vegetables in an old food dehydrator they had, then used their coffee grinder to powder the produce...
Synonyms:

pound, grind, comminute, pulverize, triturate
(transitive) To sprinkle with powder, or as if with powder.
- to powder one's hair
- 23 March 2016, Seth Augenstein in Laboratory Equipment, FDA Proposes Ban on Powdered Surgical Gloves, Decades after Documenting Health Dangers
  Gloves were powdered for more than a century to allow doctors and surgeons to slip them on more easily.
(intransitive) To use powder on the hair or skin.
- If she is grave, and reads steadily on, she dismisses me, whether I am dressed or not; but at all times she never forgets to send me away while she is powdering, with a consideration not to spoil my clothes1778-1787, Frances Burney, The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay
(intransitive) To turn into powder; to become powdery.
- Ample evidence is brought forward to show that the higher incidence of chronic interstitial nephritis in Queensland is due to lead paint on the verandahs and railings of the houses, which powders easily during the long Australian summer.1934, Edward Knight, The Clinical Journal, volume 63
(obsolete, transitive) To sprinkle with salt; to corn, as meat.
(intransitive, slang) To depart suddenly; to "take a powder".
- Miss Gibson appeared in the empty hall, her eyes wide and shocked. The little man who had started all the trouble with his singing telegram had powdered.1980, Stephen King, The Wedding Gig

Proper noun (1) capitalized: POWDER

POWDER

(Internet, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Protocol for Web Description Resources.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Powder

Powder (plural Powders)

A surname.

Also used as

powder is also the ellipsis of powder snow.

powder is also the ellipsis of powder blue.

powder meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

powder in Hindi

fine particles of any dry substance: चूर्ण cūrṇ, पाउडार pāuḍār
cosmetic product: पाउडर pāuḍar

powder in Tamil

fine particles of any dry substance: பொடி poṭi, தூள் tūḷ
to reduce to fine particles: நொறுக்கு noṟukku

powder in Marathi

fine particles of any dry substance: पूड pūḍ

powder in Urdu

fine particles of any dry substance: پاؤُڈَر pāuḍar
cosmetic product: غازَہ ġāza, پاؤُڈَر pāuḍar

More languagesFewer languages

powder in Bengali: চূর্ণ curno
powder in Telugu: పొడి poḍi, చూర్ణము cūrṇamu, పొడి చేయు poḍi cēyu
powder in Kannada: ಪುಡಿ, ಪುಡಿಯು, ಪುಡಿಗೆ
powder in Punjabi: ਪੌਡਰ, ਚੂਰਣ
powder in Gujarati: પાવડર, પાઉડર
powder in Odia: ପାଉଡର, ପାଉଡର୍, ପାଉଡରକୁ
powder in Sanskrit: धूलि dhūli
powder in Assamese: গুৰি guri, গুড়ি guri, গুড়া gura, গুৰা gura
powder in Nepali: पाउडर, चूर्ण, पाउडर गर्न
powder in Tagalog: pulbo, pulbos
powder in Arabic: مَسْحُوق masḥūq, بُودْرَة būdra
powder in Malay: serbuk
powder in Indonesian: bubuk, serbuk, bedak
powder in Persian: پودْر pudr
powder in Thai: ผง pǒng, ฝุ่น fùn
powder in Vietnamese: bột, bụi, phấn
powder in Myanmar: အမှုန့် a.hmun.

Examples of powder in a sentence

Black powder consists of an intimate mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
We took the powdered milk and hydrated it until it was drinkable.
We spent hours coating the truffles with cocoa powder so they wouldn't be sticky.

All 40 example sentences with powder

Synonyms of powder

All synonyms of powder

Forms of powder

Noun
plural	powders
alternative form	powdre
Verb
third-person singular present	powders
present participle	powdering
past participle	powdered
past	powdered
Proper noun
plural	Powders

Past tense of powder: powdered

Plural of powder: powders

Origin of powder

From Middle English poudre, pouder, pouldre, borrowed from Old French poudre, poldre, puldre, from Latin pulverem, accusative singular of Latin pulvis (“dust, powder”). Doublet of pulver. Compare pollen (“fine flour”), polverine, pulverize.

Words formed from powder

Phrases with powder

83 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with powder

Questions about powder

What does powder mean?: Powder means the fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust.
What is powder in Hindi?: Powder in Hindi is चूर्ण (cūrṇ), पाउडार (pāuḍār), पाउडर (pāuḍar). See Powder meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is powder?: Powder can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce powder?: Powder is pronounced /ˈpaʊ.də(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of powder?: The plural of powder is powders.

Words near powder in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: powder (page history and authors); POWDER (page history and authors); Powder (page history and authors); powder (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); powder (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); powder (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); powder (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); powder (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-powder.ogg.

Cite this entry: “powder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/powder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.