different between potent vs potentate

English

Etymology

From Middle English potent, borrowed from Latin potens, potentis (“powerful, strong, potent”), present participle of posse (“to be able”), from potis (“able, powerful, originally a lord, master”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??t(?)nt/
• (General American) enPR: p?t?nt IPA^(key): /?po?t(?)nt/, [?p?o???n?t], [-n??]
• Rhymes: -??t?nt
• Hyphenation: po?tent

Adjective

potent (comparative more potent, superlative most potent)

1. Possessing strength.

   • Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.

2. Powerfully effective.

3. Having a sharp or offensive taste.
4. (of a male) Able to procreate.
5. Very powerful or effective.

Translations

Noun

potent (plural potents)

1. (obsolete) A prince; a potentate.
2. (obsolete) A staff or crutch.
3. (heraldry) A heraldic fur formed by a regular tessellation of blue and white T shapes.

Antonyms

• impotent
• (heraldry): counterpotent

Derived terms

• idempotent
• nilpotent
• omnipotent
• pluripotent
• unipotent
• ventripotent
• equipotent

Related terms

• potence
• potency
• potentate
• potential
• potentiality
• potentiate
• potenty, potente

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• nettop, top ten

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin potens, potentem.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /po?tent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /pu?ten/

Adjective

potent (masculine and feminine plural potents)

1. powerful
2. potent (capable of sexual intercourse)

Further reading

• “potent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin potens. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po??t?nt/
• Hyphenation: po?tent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adjective

potent (not comparable)

1. (of males) capable of procreation, potent

Inflection

Antonyms

• impotent

Related terms

• potentaat
• potentiaal
• potentie
• potentieel

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po?t?nt/

Adjective

potent (comparative potenter, superlative am potentsten)

1. potent

Declension

Derived terms

• impotent
• präpotent

Latin

Verb

p?tent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of p?t?

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin potens, potentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po?tent/

Adjective

potent m or n (feminine singular potent?, masculine plural poten?i, feminine and neuter plural potente)

1. (literary) potent, strong, vigorous, virile

Declension

Related terms

• puternic
• poten??
• putin??
• putea
• putere

Swedish

Adjective

potent

1. potent, being effective in small quantities.

Declension

Related terms

• potens
• potential

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.