Adjacent Words

Potentate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PO'TENTATE, n. A person who possesses great power or sway; a prince; a sovereign; an emperor, king or monarch.
Exalting him not only above earthly princes and potentates, but above the highest of the celestial hierarchy.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a ruler who is unconstrained by law [syn: dictator, potentate]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century ruler, sovereign; broadly one who wields great power or sway

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a monarch or ruler. Etymology: ME f. OF potentat or L potentatus dominion (as POTENT(2))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Potentate Po"ten*tate, n. [LL. potentatus, fr. potentare to exercise power: cf. F. potentat. See Potent, a.] One who is potent; one who possesses great power or sway; a prince, sovereign, or monarch. The blessed and only potentate. --1 Tim. vi. 15. Cherub and seraph, potentates and thrones. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(potentates) A potentate is a ruler who has complete power over his people. (FORMAL) N-COUNT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

po'-ten-tat (dunastes, "mighty one," from dunamai, "to be able"): A person who possesses great power and authority. Only in 1Ti 6:15, "the blessed and only Potentate" (= God). The same Greek word is used of Zeus in Sophocles (Ant. 608), and of God in Apocrypha (e.g. Sirach 46:5; 2 Macc 15:3,13). It is used of men in Lu 1:52 (the King James Version "the mighty," the Revised Version (British and American) "princes") and Ac 8:27 ("of great authority").

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Monarch, sovereign, king, emperor, prince, ruler.

Moby Thesaurus

anointed king, chief, chieftain, crowned head, dynast, emperor, grand duke, high chief, imperator, king, king-emperor, kinglet, lord paramount, majesty, monarch, overlord, paramount, petty king, prince, prince consort, royal, royal personage, royalty, ruler, sovereign, suzerain, tetrarch