puissant
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Anglo-Norman puissant, pussant, et al., Middle French puissant, poissant, present participle of pooir (“to be able”), ultimately from Latin posse (“be able”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpwɪs(ə)nt/, /ˈpjuːɪs(ə)nt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpjuəsənt/, /ˈpwɪsənt/
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Audio (US) (file)
Adjective[edit]
puissant (comparative more puissant, superlative most puissant)
- Powerful, mighty, having authority.
- 1599 — Shakespeare, Hen V i 2
- Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, / And with your puissant arm renew their feats.
- 1667 — John Milton, Paradise Lost Book I
- For who can yet believe, though after loss,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile
Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend,
Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?
- For who can yet believe, though after loss,
- 1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part I, Chapter V
- I cried in a loud voice, "Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput!"
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 24
- How comes all this, if there be not something puissant in whaling?
- 1961 - Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
- In fact the titles could be anything-or (with some of the most puissant) no title at all...
- 1599 — Shakespeare, Hen V i 2
Translations[edit]
powerful, mighty
Related terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From the verb pouvoir, from Latin potēns, potentis.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
puissant m (feminine puissante, masculine plural puissants, feminine plural puissantes)
Related terms[edit]
Old French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
puissant
Declension[edit]
Declension of puissant
