puissant adj : powerful

English

Etymology

From posse, "be able" < potis, "able".

Pronunciation

Adjective

1. Powerful, mighty, having authority.

Quotations

• 1599 — 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?

• 1726 — Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels Part I, ch. v

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

• 1851 — Herman Melville, Moby Dick

  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...

Translations

Related terms

• puissance

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

puissant puissante

1. Powerful, mighty.

absolute, armipotent, ascendant, authoritarian, authoritative, authorized, autocratic, beefy, bouncing, clothed with authority, cogent, commanding, competent, consequential, considerable, controlling, dominant, doughty, duly constituted, dynamic, effective, eminent, empowered, energetic, ex officio, forceful, forcible, forcy, full-blooded, full-strength, governing, great, gutsy, gutty, hale, hard, hard as nails, hardy, hearty, hefty, hegemonic, hegemonistic, high-potency, high-powered, high-pressure, high-tension, husky, imperative, important, in force, in power, influential, iron-hard, irresistible, leading, lusty, mighty, mighty in battle, momentous, monocratic, nervy, obstinate, official, operative, potent, powerful, preeminent, prepotent, prestigious, prominent, ranking, red-blooded, robust, robustious, rugged, ruling, senior, stalwart, steely, stout, strapping, striking, strong, strong as brandy, strong as strong, strong-willed, sturdy, substantial, superior, supreme, telling, totalitarian, valid, vigorous, vital, weighty