See Also: potentate(dictionary)
potentate(dictionary)
POTENTATE(law)

potentate (iou)



potentate noun & adjective. LME.
[Old & mod. French potentat or Latin potentatus power, dominion, (in late Latin) potentate, formed as POTENT adjective2 & noun2: see -ATE1.]
A. noun.
A person endowed with independent power; a monarch, a ruler. LME.
J. Klauber He was a potentate administering imaginary empires. S. Weintraub The Eastern potentates whose jewels and orders gleamed.
A powerful city, State, or body. E17.
Ld Macaulay Nothing indicated that the East India Company would ever become a great Asiatic potentate.
B. adjective. Powerful, ruling. M16-M17.
potentacy noun the state or rule of a potentate L16-E18.