Puissant

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpwɪs(É™)nt/, /ˈpjuːɪs(É™)nt/
• US IPA: /ˈpjuÉ™sÉ™nt/, /ˈpwɪsÉ™nt/

Origin

From Anglo-Norman puissant, pussant, et al., Middle French puissant, poissant, present participle of pooir ("to be able"), ultimately from Latin posse ("be able").

Full definition of puissant

Adjective

1. Powerful, mighty, having authority.
• 1599 — Shakespeare, Hen V i 2Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
  And with your puissant arm renew their feats.
• 1667 — John Milton, Book IFor 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?
• Swift Gulliver|I|VI cried in a loud voice, "Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput!"
• 1851, Herman Melville, ,How comes all this, if there be not something puissant in whaling?
• 1961 - Robert A. Heinlein, ''In fact the titles could be anything-or (with some of the most puissant) no title at all...

Related terms

• puissance

Anagrams

• snapsuit