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potentate

noun
/ˈpəʊ.tən.teɪt/UK/ˈpoʊ.tən.teɪt/US

Etymology

From Middle English potentat, from Old French, from Late Latin potentātus (“rule, political power”), from Latin potēns (“powerful, strong”), the active present participle of possum (“to be able”).

  1. derived from potēns — “powerful, strong”
  2. derived from potentātus — “rule, political power”
  3. inherited from potentat

Definitions

  1. A powerful leader

    A powerful leader; a monarch; a ruler.

    • But Kings and mightieſt Potentates muſt die, For that's the end of humane miſerie.
    • She was now one of a group of oriental beauties who, in the second act of the comic opera, were paraded by the vizier before the new potentate as the treasures of his harem.
    • Life for ordinary barons in Outremer Jerusalem was probably better than for kings in Europe, where even potentates wore unlaundered wool and lived in bare-stone draughty keeps with rough furniture.

  2. A powerful polity or institution.

  3. A self-important person.

  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Someone acting in an important role.

      • "Those foreigners," thought the female potentate of the Sun, "won't know what to order; but I'll show them what a good supper is."

    2. Regnant, powerful, dominant.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for potentate. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA