What does “powerful” mean, when discussing programming languages?

Question

In the context of programming language discussion/comparison, what does the term \"power\" mean?

Does it have a well defined meaning? Even a poorly defined meaning?

Answer 1

I remember many instructors in college calling whatever language they were teaching "powerful".

Leads me to think:

Powerful = a relative term comparing the latest way to code something vs. the original or previous way.