a person having great power; ruler; monarch
Origin of potentate
Middle English potentat from Late Latin potentatus from LL(Ec), power, rule from Classical Latin potens: see potent
Alfred the Great was a potentate in Wessex, England during the time of the Viking raids.
The definition of a potentate is a ruler or someone with power.
An example of a potentate is a king.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"potentate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate>.
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potentate. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate
potentate
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"potentate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate>.
APA Style
potentate. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate
potentate
noun
- One who has the power and position to rule over others; a monarch.
- One who dominates or leads a group or an endeavor: industrial potentates.
Origin of potentate
Middle English potentat from Old French from Late Latin potentātus from Latin power from potēns present participle of posse to be able ; see potent .THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"potentate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate>.
APA Style
potentate. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"potentate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate>.
APA Style
potentate. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/potentate
Sentence Examples
- Valdemar was now, after the king of England, the most powerful potentate in the north of Europe.
- The flight of the tsarevich to a foreign potentate was a reproach and a scandal.
- The last of the native princes who had real authority was a potentate known as Dom Pedro V.
- Each petty potentate strove for his own private advantage in the confusion; and at this epoch the chief gains accrued to the papacy.
- The Senegal, and, in alliance with that potentate, to crush the Turks and liberate Palestine.
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