【Power】 ,  【authority】 ,  【jurisdiction】 ,  【control】 ,  【command】 ,  【sway】 ,  【dominion】  are comparable when they mean the right or prerogative of determining, ruling, or governing or the exercise of that right or prerogative.

【Power】 even in this specific sense never loses its fundamental implication of ability, but in this case it is a capacity for rule that may derive from rank, office, or even character or personality.

【Power】 when used with reference to a definite person or body or office commonly connotes divisibility or strict limitation.

【Authority】  is often used interchangeably with  【power】 ; nevertheless, there can be an essential difference in meaning, since  【authority】  usually refers to 【power】 resident in or exercised by another than oneself; thus, one may have  【power】 , rather than  【authority】 , to determine one's own actions, but a parent or a master or a ruler has the  【authority】 , rather than the  【power】 , to determine the actions of those under him; children are obedient to  【authority】  rather than to  【power】 .

【Power】  and  【authority】 , especially in the plural, often refer to the persons who have or hold 【power】 or 【authority】 as defined. Powers, however, usually occurs in the phrase "the powers that be" and is either somewhat more comprehensive or less explicit in its reference than "the authorities, " which often means the persons who have 【authority】 in the special instance to direct, to decide, or to punish.

【Jurisdiction】 implies possession of legal or actual 【power】 to determine, to rule, or to govern within definitely assigned limits, and of the 【authority】 to so act in all matters coming within the sphere of that 【power】 .

【Control】  stresses possession of the 【authority】 to restrain or curb and its effective exercise, or of actual 【power】 to regulate or keep responsive to one's will not only persons but things; thus, a teacher who has lost  【control】  of his class has reached a point where the pupils no longer recognize his 【authority】 ; a fire has gone beyond  【control】 when those who are fighting it have lost all 【power】 to check it.

【Command】  implies such 【control】 as makes one the master of men, and such 【authority】 that obedience to one's order or one's will either inevitably follows or is inexorably enforced; thus, one speaks of the officer in  【command】 , rather than in  【control】 , of a regiment; a person has  【command】 of a situation when he completely dominates it or has all persons or things involved in it under 【control】 .

【Command】 is also used in reference to things which one has mastered so thoroughly that one encounters no resistance or interference in using, recalling, or controlling them.

【Sway】  tends to be slightly rhetorical because its use in this sense was originally figurative and the word still carries a hint of its original implications of swinging or sweeping through an arc or circle; hence, when a word is desired that means 【power】 but also connotes extent or scope and such added matters as preponderant influence, compelling 【authority】 , or potency,  【sway】 is the appropriate choice.

【Dominion】 imputes sovereignty to the 【power】 in question or supremacy to the 【authority】 in question.