From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpowerhousepow‧er‧house /ˈpaʊəhaʊs $ ˈpaʊr-/ noun [countable] informal 1 SSOEFFECT/INFLUENCEan organization or place where there is a lot of activity or where a lot of things are produced Europe’s industrial powerhouse2 STRONG TASTE OR SMELLsomeone who is very strong or has a lot of energy a powerhouse of a man
Examples from the Corpus
powerhouse• The Cougars, eighth in the conference last year, have never been a Pac-10 powerhouse.• This small company has become a powerhouse in the software market.• The Redmond, Wash.-based powerhouse yesterday announced an agreement to buy Aha!• Whether this is true or not, an extraordinary powerhouse of commercial and creative activity is now propelling multimedia forward.• But they face opposition from a lobbying powerhouse of credit card companies, banks, auto companies and retail chains.• So whatever level of runner you are you can't do better than get into the Mizuno powerhouse.• There are some powerhouses, of course.• Atlanta was the powerhouse team of the '90s.• Vocal powerhouse Dorothy Reid will perform at Thursday's gospel concert.From Longman Business Dictionarypowerhousepow‧er‧house /ˈpaʊəhaʊsˈpaʊr-/ noun [countable] an organization that produces a lot of ideas or activity, and has a lot of power or influence in its fieldHe wanted to turn the securities firm into a Wall Street powerhouse. 