different between puissant vs overpowering

English

Etymology

From Middle English puissaunt, from Middle French puissant, poissant, Anglo-Norman puissant, Old French pussant, et al., present participle of pooir (“to be able”), ultimately from Latin posse (“be able”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pw?s(?)nt/, /?pju??s(?)nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?pju?s?nt/, /?pw?s?nt/

Adjective

puissant (comparative more puissant, superlative most puissant)

1. (archaic or literary) Powerful, mighty, having authority.
   • 1599 — William Shakespeare, Hen V i 2

     Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, / And with your puissant arm renew their feats.

   • 1667 — John Milton, Paradise Lost Book I

     For who can yet believe, though after loss,
     That all these puissant legions, whose exile
     Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend,
     Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?

   • I cried in a loud voice, "Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput!"

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 24

     How comes all this, if there be not something puissant in whaling?

   • 1961 - Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

     In fact the titles could be anything-or (with some of the most puissant) no title at all...

Related terms

• puissance

Translations

Anagrams

• snapsuit, uitspans

French

Etymology

Old present participle of the verb pouvoir (formed with the stem puis-; compare the modern form pouvant), from Old French puissant, pussant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?i.s??/

Adjective

puissant (feminine singular puissante, masculine plural puissants, feminine plural puissantes)

1. powerful; mighty

Related terms

• pouvoir
• puissance

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• poissant
• pussant

Etymology

From the present participle of pooir, povoir, formed with the stem puis- in conjugated forms of the verb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pui?.?sant/

Adjective

puissant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular puissant or puissante)

1. powerful; mighty

Declension

Related terms

• puissance

Descendants

• ? English: puissant
• Middle French: puissant
  • French: puissant

English

Verb

overpowering

1. present participle of overpower

Adjective

overpowering (comparative more overpowering, superlative most overpowering)

1. That overpowers; so strong as to be overwhelming.