Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

potent

UK/ˈpəʊt(ə)nt/US/ˈpoʊt(ə)nt/
adjectiveB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,954 of 15,258leans written

Potent means powerfully strong in effect. A potent drug, a potent argument, a potent symbol.

In pharmacology it is precise: potency is how much of a drug is needed for a given effect, so a potent one works at a small dose — which says nothing about how good it is. Outside that it applies to arguments, symbols and drinks. Note impotent, which is its opposite and has a specific medical sense; potentate, a ruler; and that potent, potential and power all come from the Latin for being able.

Definitions of potent

  1. 1adjectivepotentPowerfully strong in effect.B2+

    “This coffee is so potent that one cup keeps me awake all night.”

    synonyms: powerful, strong

potent is a quality of strength.

Where it comes from

Latin potens is the present participle of posse, to be able. Power, possible, potential and omnipotent all come from the same ability.

  1. Latin

    potens — powerful, strong, potent

  2. Middle English

    potent

  3. English, today

    potent

Built from

  • posse · Latin — to be able
  • potis · Latin — able, powerful, originally a lord, master

From Middle English potent, borrowed from Latin potens (“powerful, strong, potent”), present participle of posse (“to be able”), from potis (“able, powerful, originally a lord, master”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

potent in the wild

  • The trans-isomer was found to be around 591 times more potent than morphine in animal studies.

    C-8813

  • Via intravenous administration, it is approximately three times as potent as RB-101 or twice as potent as the isolated (S,S) isomer of RB101.

    RB-120

  • However, via i.p. administration it is approximately twice as potent as racemic RB-101 and about as potent as the isolated (S,S) isomer of RB101.

    RB-120

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the posse family

potent

potent — used about once every 2,254 pages · #6,954 · point at the bar for the others

  • potential
  • potentially