potentate

[ poht-n-teyt ]

noun

1. a person who possesses great power, as a sovereign, monarch, or ruler.

potentate

/ ˈpəʊtənˌteɪt /

noun

1. a person who possesses great power or authority, esp a ruler or monarch

Word History and Origins

Origin of potentate¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin potentātus potentate, Latin: power, dominion. See potent ¹, -ate ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of potentate¹

C14: from Late Latin potentātus ruler, from Latin: rule, command, from potens powerful, from posse to be able

Example Sentences

Or were all those billionaire potentates in the Capitol Rotunda — seated in front of Trump’s Cabinet picks — asserting their social, economic and cultural hegemony?

From Los Angeles Times

As president the first time, Trump found common cause with many Middle Eastern potentates, forgoing criticism of their human rights records.

From Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile, their dominance of North Yemen proved unacceptable to the Saudis and the allied United Arab Emirates, whose secular potentate, Mohammed Bin Zayed, had long despised such Islamic political movements.

From Salon

Feinstein ruled over San Francisco like a potentate, hands on and fingernails dug in.

From Los Angeles Times

At Yale and Harvard, he encountered professors who “reigned as potentates, sure in the smugness of their positions, but utterly unaware of the lives of most Americans, including those that they professed to care about.”

From Washington Post

Related Words

• despot