Colin Powell

160 2.8

A US general who later served as Secretary of State and was the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

proper noun
/ˈkoʊlɪn ˈpaʊəl/

: Colin Powell

In one of the most memorable passages in his memoir, former Secretary of State Colin Powell recalls that during Vietnam, "as a corporate entity, the military failed to talk straight to its political superiors or itself."
Secretary of State Colin Powell

Examples

Secretary of State Colin Powell visited India and Pakistan three times following the Pakistan-supported terrorist attack on the Indian parliament building on 13 December 2001, primarily to help reduce tensions between India and Pakistan.

Academic text (2002)
There is no British equivalent of Colin Powell, the most celebrated black former senior officer in the U.S. military.

Academic text (2002)
As former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared, HIV/AIDS is the "greatest weapon of mass destruction on the earth."

Academic text (2007)
Though then-Secretary of State Colin Powell explicitly said in July 2003, "We did not do it for oil," the draft oil law casts a very long, very dark shadow across those words.

Academic text (2007)
For example, on 17 January 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings, supported lifting the sanctions against India.

Academic text (2002)
In fact, Bush's secretary of state, Colin Powell, had always advocated treating China as "not an enemy" but a "trading partner willing to cooperate in areas where our strategic interests overlap."

Academic text (2002)
The millions of dollars of U.S. aid that poured into Afghanistan have been carefully monitored to ensure that this "aid is distributed fairly and with consideration for the needs of women." Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated that "the recovery of Afghanistan must entail the restoration of the rights of Afghan women."

Academic text (2002)
Secretary of State Colin Powell played a significant role in shaping U.S. foreign policy during his time in office.
Many remember Colin Powell as a pioneering African American leader who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
During a press briefing, Colin Powell emphasized the importance of international cooperation in addressing global challenges.

Surface Forms

Colin Powell main

Morphology

Colin + Powell

This is a proper name referring to a specific individual; the tokens 'Colin' and 'Powell' do not carry compositional semantic content that would signal his identity or roles. A B1 learner who knows those name-words cannot infer he was a U.S. general and statesman, so the expression is referential and arbitrary rather than derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Colin Powell was a U.S. general who rose from an army officer to become the country's top military adviser and later its 'Secretary of State'. He was the first African American to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so his name often means strong leadership in both the army and the government.