different between supervisor vs potentate

English

Alternative forms

• supervisour (obsolete)

Etymology

Attested since the 15th century C.E.; from Latin supervisor, from supervide?, in turn from Latin super + Latin vide?.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: so?op??rv?z'?r, IPA^(key): /?su?p??va?z?/

Noun

supervisor (plural supervisors)

1. (management) A person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities.
2. A person who monitors someone to make sure they comply with rules or other requirements set for them.
3. (US) In certain states, an elected member of the governing body for a county which is called the board of supervisors.
4. (computing) A process responsible for managing other processes.
   • 1965, P. A. Crisman, The compatible time-sharing system: a programmer's guide (page 14)

     The clock burst which enables the supervisor to housekeep the console input and output and to change program status is currently set to 200 ms.

Related terms

• supervise
• supervision
• supervisory

Translations

See also

• manager
• on-call supervisor
• superintendent

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “supervisor”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• proviruses

Catalan

Noun

supervisor m (plural supervisors, feminine supervisora)

1. supervisor

Related terms

• supervisar
• supervisió

Further reading

• “supervisor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “supervisor” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “supervisor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Portuguese

Etymology

super- +? visor

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sup??vi?zo?/

Noun

supervisor m (plural supervisores)

1. (management) supervisor

See also

• gerente
• administrador
• capataz
• chefe
• controlador
• feitor
• organizador
• superintendente

Spanish

Noun

supervisor m (plural supervisores, feminine supervisora, feminine plural supervisoras)

1. supervisor
2. handler (e.g, a secret agent's handler)

Related terms

• supervisar
• supervisión

Further reading

• “supervisor” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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.