puissant
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English puissaunt, from Middle French puissant, poissant, Anglo-Norman puissant, Old French pussant, et al., present participle of pooir (“to be able”), ultimately from Latin posse (“be able”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
puissant (comparative more puissant, superlative most puissant)
- (archaic or literary) Powerful, mighty, having authority.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, / And with your puissant arm renew their feats.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 1”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- 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?
- 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author by an Extraordinary Stratagem Prevents an Invasion. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], OCLC 995220039, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):
- I cried in a loud voice, "Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput!"
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 24, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:
- 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...
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
powerful, mighty
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Old present participle of the verb pouvoir (formed with the stem puis-; compare the modern form pouvant), from Old French puissant, pussant.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
puissant (feminine singular puissante, masculine plural puissants, feminine plural puissantes)
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “puissant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From the present participle of pooir, povoir, formed with the stem puis- in conjugated forms of the verb.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
puissant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular puissant or puissante)
Declension[edit]
Declension of puissant
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
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- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
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- English 2-syllable words
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English literary terms
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- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
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- French lemmas
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- fr:Personality
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
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