different between potence vs potentate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French potence (“power, a crutch”), from Latin potentia (“power, in Medieval Latin also crutch”), from potens (“powerful”); see potent.

Noun

potence (countable and uncountable, plural potences)

1. power or strength; potency
2. A stud that acts as a support of a pivot in a watch or clock
3. (heraldry) Synonym of crutch

Derived terms

• idempotence
• nilpotence
• unipotence

Related terms

• potency
• potent
• potentate
• potential
• potentiality

Further reading

• potence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• potence in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• pet cone

Czech

Etymology

Latin potis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?pot?nt?s?]
• Rhymes: -?nts?

Noun

potence f

1. potency

Related terms

Further reading

• potence in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• potence in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Latin potentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.t??s/

Noun

potence f (plural potences)

1. (construction) post and braces
2. gallows, gibbet (for hanging)
3. stem (component on a bicycle)

Usage notes

Beware that this is a false friend, meaning “gallows” (or similar wooden constructions), not “strength”, from the Middle Latin meaning “crutch” of potentia.

Synonyms

• gibet

Derived terms

• gibier de potence

Further reading

• “potence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• écopent

English

Etymology

From Middle English potentat, from Old French, from Late Latin potent?tus (“rule, political power”), from Latin pot?ns (“powerful, strong”), the active present participle of possum (“I am able”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??.t?n.te?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?po?.t?n.te?t/

Noun

potentate (plural potentates)

1. A powerful leader; a monarch; a ruler.
   • 1592, Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I, act iii, scene 2

     But Kings and mightie?t Potentates mu?t die,
     For that's the end of humane mi?erie.

   • 1900, Theodore Dreiser, "Sister Carrie"

     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.

2. A powerful polity or institution.
3. (derogatory) A self-important person.

Usage notes

This term usually carries connotations or implications of ancient despotism before advanced Western conceptions of civil law and Enlightenment values; in other words, a potentate can be described as a king or realm that exercises "raw", absolute power by decree and entrenched in "exotic" customs and traditions (cf. Orientalism). For example, a "Hindu potentate" would refer to those petty kings who controlled various small dominions in India before the British Raj. Particularly in the second sense, use of "potentate" to refer to Western states even before the modern era is rare, and may even be intended humorously in such a case.

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

potentate (comparative more potentate, superlative most potentate)

1. (obsolete) Regnant, powerful, dominant.