Potentate
noun
A person who has a lot of power.
He ruled his country like a potentate.
Often appears as...
- oriental potentate
- local potentate
Usage tips
Formal
noun
A person who has a lot of power.
He ruled his country like a potentate.
Often appears as...
- oriental potentate
- local potentate
Usage tips
Formal
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Historical Context
'Potentate' often refers to powerful leaders from history or in a traditional or ceremonial context.
The visiting dignitaries treated the elderly monarch as a revered potentate.
Pro Tip 2/3Power Implication
Using 'potentate' suggests the person holds significant authority and control, often in a political sphere.
The potentate issued a decree that would affect millions of people.
Pro Tip 3/3High Formality
'Potentate' is a formal term and is less likely to be used in everyday conversation or casual settings.
At the state banquet, the speaker addressed the king as a mighty potentate.
Pro Tip 1/3Historical Context
'Potentate' often refers to powerful leaders from history or in a traditional or ceremonial context.
The visiting dignitaries treated the elderly monarch as a revered potentate.
Pro Tip 2/3Power Implication
Using 'potentate' suggests the person holds significant authority and control, often in a political sphere.
The potentate issued a decree that would affect millions of people.
Pro Tip 3/3High Formality
'Potentate' is a formal term and is less likely to be used in everyday conversation or casual settings.
At the state banquet, the speaker addressed the king as a mighty potentate.
Pro Tip 1/3Historical Context
'Potentate' often refers to powerful leaders from history or in a traditional or ceremonial context.
The visiting dignitaries treated the elderly monarch as a revered potentate.
Pro Tip 2/3Power Implication
Using 'potentate' suggests the person holds significant authority and control, often in a political sphere.
The potentate issued a decree that would affect millions of people.
Pro Tip 3/3High Formality
'Potentate' is a formal term and is less likely to be used in everyday conversation or casual settings.
At the state banquet, the speaker addressed the king as a mighty potentate.
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Video examples
Is invisibility the...
for around three hundred and fifty years but in as much as they ruled anywhere outside of Java they did it mostly through those local potentates so no big surprise that people have very strong local local loyalties now there was reading a concept of nation until the
Video examples
Is invisibility the...
for around three hundred and fifty years but in as much as they ruled anywhere outside of Java they did it mostly through those local potentates so no big surprise that people have very strong local local loyalties now there was reading a concept of nation until the
Example 1 of 1
Quote examples
Louis Sullivan
American Architect
The feudal concept of self-preservation is poisoned at the core by the virulent assumption of master and man, of potentate and slave, of external and internal suppression of the life urge of the only one - of its faith in human sacrifice as a means of salvation.
Quote examples
Thomas Frank
American Author
When the entertainers of the Right aren't declaring their disgust with President Obama for groveling before foreign potentates, they're pretending to fear him as a left-wing thug, an exemplar of what they call 'the Chicago way.
Quote examples
Virchand Gandhi
Indian Educator
May peace rule the universe, may peace rule in kingdoms and empires, may peace rule in states and in the lands of the potentates, may peace rule in the house of friends and may peace also rule in the house of enemies.
Quote examples
Simon Sebag Montefiore
British Historian
It is a characteristic of potentates that they don't succumb to peaceful retirement. Instead, they hold power in their hoary fists as judgment and grip weaken, destroying any successors except family members.
Quote examples
Steve Rushin
American Journalist
What's certain is that ranking powerful people is inherently self-defeating. For starters, true potentates know who they are without being told, and they have no need to announce it.
Quote examples
Louis Sullivan
American Architect
The feudal concept of self-preservation is poisoned at the core by the virulent assumption of master and man, of potentate and slave, of external and internal suppression of the life urge of the only one - of its faith in human sacrifice as a means of salvation.
Quote examples
Thomas Frank
American Author
When the entertainers of the Right aren't declaring their disgust with President Obama for groveling before foreign potentates, they're pretending to fear him as a left-wing thug, an exemplar of what they call 'the Chicago way.
Quote examples
Virchand Gandhi
Indian Educator
May peace rule the universe, may peace rule in kingdoms and empires, may peace rule in states and in the lands of the potentates, may peace rule in the house of friends and may peace also rule in the house of enemies.
Quote examples
Simon Sebag Montefiore
British Historian
It is a characteristic of potentates that they don't succumb to peaceful retirement. Instead, they hold power in their hoary fists as judgment and grip weaken, destroying any successors except family members.
Quote examples
Steve Rushin
American Journalist
What's certain is that ranking powerful people is inherently self-defeating. For starters, true potentates know who they are without being told, and they have no need to announce it.
Example 1 of 5
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