plenipotentiary

WOTD – 25 February 2008    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

First attested in 1645. From medieval Latin plenipotentiarius, from plenipotentia 'full powers', from plenipotens, from plēnus (“full”) + potentia (“power”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˌplɛn.ɪ.pəʊˈtɛn.ʃər.i/, /ˌplɛn.ɪ.pəʊˈtɛn.ʃi.ər.i/, X-SAMPA: /%plEn.I.p@U"tEn.SI.@r.I/
• (US) IPA: /plɛn.ɪ.poʊˈtɛn.ʃər.i/, /plɛn.ɪ.poʊˈtɛn.ʃi.ər.i/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

plenipotentiary (plural plenipotentiaries)

1. A person invested with full power, especially as the diplomatic agent of a sovereign state, (originally) charged with handling a certain matter

   1985: Two of them are hanging up there on Golgotha, and that ought to be enough to show the authority of Rome’s ah plenipotentiary. — Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked

Derived terms

• (ambassador and) minister plenipotentiary

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Translations

person invested with supreme authority

• Czech: zplnomocněnec (cs) m
• Dutch: gevolmachtigde m, plenipotentiaris m
• Esperanto: plenpovulo (eo)
• Finnish: täysivaltainen edustaja
• French: plénipotentiaire (fr) m
• German: Bevollmächtigter (de) m

• Icelandic: (representative with complete authority) fulltrúi sem hefur fullt umboð (is) m
• Macedonian: полномошник (mk) (polnomóšnik) m, ополномоштеник (mk) (opolnomóštenik) m
• Polish: pełnomocnik m, ambasador m
• Portuguese: plenipotenciário (pt) m
• Romanian: plenipotențiar (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: пълномощен (pǎlnomošten)
• Norwegian: fullmektig
• Swedish: fullmäktig
• Tatar: wäqälätle
• Turkish: tam yetkili

Adjective

plenipotentiary (not comparable)

1. Invested with full power.
2. Of or relating to a plenipotentiary agent

Synonyms

• plenipotent

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Translations

invested with full power

• Dutch: gevolmachtigd
• Esperanto: plenpova (eo)
• Finnish: täysivaltainen (fi)
• French: plénipotentiaire (fr)
• German: bevollmächtigt (de)

• Macedonian: полномошен (mk) (polnomóšen) m, ополномоштен (mk) (opolnomóšten) m
• Polish: pełnomocny m
• Portuguese: plenipotenciário (pt) m

of or relating to a plenipotentiary

• Esperanto: plenpova (eo)
• Finnish: täysivaltainen (fi)

• Macedonian: полномошнички (mk) (polnomóšnički) m
• Polish: pełnomocny m