power outage

IPA/ˈpaʊər aʊtɪdʒ/
IPA/ˈpaʊər aʊtɪdʒ/

power outage — noun

1. a period when the flow of electricity to a home, building, or whole area stops,

1.名詞B2
釋義

a period when the flow of electricity to a home, building, or whole area stops, usually because of damage to the power grid, bad weather, or equipment failure

例句

A power outage hit Aisha's street for three hours, so she couldn't finish her homework.

power outage + hit + [location] + for + [duration]

Theo grabbed some candles when a sudden power outage plunged the whole building into darkness.

sudden power outage + plunged + [place] + into darkness

同義詞
  • power cut

    British English term for the same thing; less common in American English.

  • blackout

    A longer, more widespread interruption where an entire region loses electricity, often due to a grid failure.

  • brownout

    A partial drop in voltage that dims lights rather than a complete loss of power.

反義詞

文法句型

power outage + verb (affect / hit / last / cause)

during + a / the + power outage

a + widespread / major / brief + power outage

用法筆記

Frequently used with verbs like 'affect', 'hit', 'cause', and 'last'. A power outage is usually a short-term interruption caused by grid problems or bad weather; for longer, more severe interruptions spanning a whole city or region, 'blackout' is more common.

常見錯誤

❌My phone has a power outage.
✅My phone battery died.
💡A power outage refers to the supply of mains electricity to a building or area, not to a personal electronic device running out of battery.
❌The power outage is working again.
✅The power has been restored after the outage.
💡English does not say that an outage 'works'; instead, power is 'restored' or 'comes back on.'