omnipotence

[ om-nip-uh-tuhns ]

noun

1. the quality or state of being omnipotent.
2. (initial capital letter) God.

Word History and Origins

Origin of omnipotence¹

First recorded in 1560–70; from Late Latin omnipotentia, from Latin omnipotent-, stem of omnipotēns “all-powerful” ( omnipotent ) + -ia -y ³( def ); -ence

Example Sentences

Mockery has often been a useful tool among the many needed to deflate the posture of omnipotence that actual and aspiring autocrats like to adopt.

From Salon

His talk is infused unabashedly with what Freud called the death-drive: “the blindest fury of destructiveness … accompanied by an extraordinarily high degree of narcissistic enjoyment, owing to its presenting the ego with a fulfilment of the latter’s old wishes for omnipotence.”

From Slate

Roosevelt was then at the outset of his second term, riding high on an electoral victory that may have given him a greater sense of his political omnipotence than he actually possessed.

From Los Angeles Times

Breton argued instead for embracing the “omnipotence of dreams” and exploring the unconscious and all that was “marvelous” in life.

From New York Times

Like other dictators, Trump is a megalomaniac, possessed by delusions of grandeur and omnipotence.

From Salon