Definition of "might"

might¹

/maɪt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural mights
1. (countable, uncountable) Power, strength, force or influence held by a person or group.
  Quotations
  […] ſtrengthed with all myght, thꝛough his gloꝛious power, unto all pacience and long ſufferyng with ioifulneſſe […]
  1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epiſtles and Goſpelles, to be uſed at the celebꝛacion of the loꝛdes Supper, & holy Communion, thꝛough the yere, with pꝛoper Pſalmes and Leſſons, for diuers feaſtes and dayes”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], folio xcvii, recto
  This is the richest, the most powerful country which ever occupied this globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the president who built empires or sought grandeur or extended dominion. I want to be the president who educated young children to the wonders of their world.
  1965 March 15, Lyndon B. Johnson, 43:30 from the start, in Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506.‎, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
  Since every nation considers itself right, peace lies in balancing the military mights of the possible rivals.
  1969, [unattributed], Journal of the United Service Institution of India‎, volume 99, page 115
2. (uncountable) Physical strength or force.
3. (uncountable) The ability to do something.
adjective
comparative mighter, superlative mightest
1. (obsolete) Mighty; powerful.
2. (obsolete) Possible.

might²

/maɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present might, no present participle, simple past might, no past participle
1. (auxiliary) third-person singular simple present indicative of might Used to indicate conditional or possible actions.
  Quotations
  The characterism of an honest man: He looks not to what he might do, but what he should.
  1608, Joseph Hall, Characters of Virtues and Vices
  “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
  1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company
  It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
  2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
2. (auxiliary) simple past of may Used to indicate permission in past tense.
  Quotations
  The king and queen of Tahiti might not touch the ground anywhere but within their hereditary domains; for the ground on which they trod became sacred.
  1922, James Frazer, chapter 60, in The Golden Bough‎
3. (auxiliary) simple past of may Used to indicate possibility in past tense.
  Quotations
  I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
  Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
  1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎
4. simple past of might Used to indicate a desired past action that was not done.
  Quotations
  With 14 minutes gone Héctor Moreno might have scored, glancing a header too close to Neuer from a free-kick.
  2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, archived from the original on 5 August 2019
5. (auxiliary) Even though.
  Quotations
  I might play football, but I do know how to read.
  2016, Candy Sloan, Wrong Bed Reunion
6. (auxiliary) Used in polite requests for permission
7. (auxiliary, UK, meiosis) Used to express certainty.

Definition of "might"

might1

noun

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adjective

might2

verb

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might¹

might²