puissance
- noun
- /ˈpjuːɪsəns/
- Formal
:
potencia
- Like the needle-and-thread operation on certain unfortunate women in Renaissance Italy, powerful forces are nevertheless attempting to reimpose a sort of political virginity on our nation and blur our new and hard-won sense of puissance oblige.
Examples
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lnto a thousand parts divide one man and make imaginary puissance.
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Solomon needed 46 years to construct the temple, so to be able to rebuild it, the entire structure, in a few days, that would take the puissance of God.
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A conclusive and effective resolution, spearheaded by the SCO, would serve as a powerful statement of the Cooperation's puissance.
Academic text (2007) -
The significant point here is that the dramatic performance entails a semiotics of substitution, where the audience will "Into a thousand parts divide one man, / And make imaginary puissance" (24-25).
Academic text (2003) -
But the still-strong sense of social responsibility, mingled with anticommunism and a sort of puissance oblige, drew America into the equivocal Korean War and then, disastrously, into Indochina.
Academic text (1996) -
The leader's puissance was evident in the way he commanded respect from his followers.
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Her artistic work displayed a puissance that inspired many young artists.
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The nation's military puissance allowed it to influence global politics significantly.
Synonyms
∞
3.4
Ability to control people or events
731
3.5
Power to give orders and make people obey
9
8.2
A position of power over other people or groups
8
9.0
A state of having unlimited power over everything
7
5.6
Power that lets someone control people and places
3
8.0
Power or influence over other people
3
6.6
Power to give orders and make decisions for others
Power to control people or places
The legal right to act or control others
Having power over other people or groups
Great strength or influence that affects others
The state of having the highest power or importance
Complete power to do anything, often said about God
Antonyms
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word puissance comes from the old French puissant, which means 'powerful', and from the Latin root posse meaning 'to be able', the same idea behind English words like power and potent. So puissance today means great 'power' or the ability to control or influence.