Latin word meaning power

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Potestas is a Latin word meaning power or faculty. It is an important concept in Roman Law.

Origin of the concept[edit]

The idea of potestas originally referred to the power, through coercion, of a Roman magistrate to promulgate edicts, give action to litigants, etc. This power, in Roman political and legal theory, is considered analogous in kind though lesser in degree to military power. The most important magistrates (such as consuls and praetors) are said to have imperium, which is the ultimate form of potestas, and refers indeed to military power.

Potestas strongly contrasts with the power of the Senate and the prudentes, a common way to refer to Roman jurists. While the magistrates had potestas, the prudentes exercised auctoritas. It is said that auctoritas is a manifestation of socially recognized knowledge, while potestas is a manifestation of socially recognized power. In Roman political theory, both were necessary to guide the res publica and they had to inform each other.

Evolution of the concept in the Middle Ages[edit]

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, most institutions of Roman public law fell into disuse, but much of Roman political theory remained. In a letter, Duo Sunt, Pope Gelasius I argued that Christendom was ruled, in theory, by the priests and princes. The former had the spiritual authority, which was identified with auctoritas, while the latter had temporal power, identified with potestas.^[1] At first, the Pope crowned secular rulers after Pope Stephen II crowned the Frankish king Pepin the Short in January 754, and secular rulers often appointed local bishops and abbots, but after the Investiture Controversy the Pope was instead chosen by the College of Cardinals and, at least in theory, approved episcopal nominations.^[2]

As the effective power of the Holy Roman Empire declined, kingdoms asserted their own independence.^{[citation needed]} One way to do this was to claim that the king had, in his kingdom, the same power as the emperor in the empire, and so the king assumed the attributes of potestas.^{[citation needed]}

The concept of plena in re potesta was often used in 13th-century Europe, of ownership as being «in full power» to do what one likes with one’s property.^[3] The use of the dogma was also used by Edward I. Although its ultimate use is ambiguous, it was used to give to parliament representatives the authority of making choices in parliament (full powers). This, in turn, helped Edward I coerce shire representatives to grant taxes.^[4]

Podestà[edit]

In some of the Italian city states, the term «Potestas» describes the authority of a magistrate developed into «Podestà», which was the chief magistrate’s title.

References[edit]

See also[edit]

• Jurisprudence – Theoretical study of law
• Edict – Announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism
• Tribune – Elected Roman officials

What is the Latin word that means the power or ability to discern?

_______________is the latin word that means the pwer or ability to discern.

What is the difference between discernment and discretion?

As nouns the difference between discernment and discretion is that discernment is the ability to distinguish; judgement while discretion is the quality of being discreet or circumspect.

What is the biblical meaning of discernment?

The fundamental definition for Christian discernment is a decision making process in which an individual makes a discovery that can lead to future action. In the process of Christian spiritual discernment God guides the individual to help them arrive at the best decision.

What does thinking mean?

(Entry 1 of 2) 1 : the action of using one’s mind to produce thoughts. 2a : opinion, judgment I’d like to know your thinking on this. b : thought that is characteristic (as of a period, group, or person) the current student thinking on fraternities.

Who is referred to as thinking man?

The first person to be called «the thinking man’s crumpet» was Joan Bakewell, by humourist Frank Muir, following her appearances in highbrow television discussion programmes such as BBC2’s Late Night Line-Up. … Stewart Lee uses the phrase «crumpet man’s thinker» in his stand-up, referring to Andrew Graham-Dixon.

What is an example of thinking?

Thinking is thought or reasoning. An example of thinking is when someone takes the time to work out a problem in their head.

Is it OK to overthink?

Interestingly, research has found that many overthinkers believe they’re actually doing themselves a favor by cycling through their thoughts. But the truth of the matter is that overthinking is a dangerous game that can have a lot of negative consequences on our well-being./span>

How do I stop anxiety and overthinking?

1. 10 Simple Ways You Can Stop Yourself From Overthinking. …
2. Awareness is the beginning of change. …
3. Don’t think of what can go wrong, but what can go right. …
4. Distract yourself into happiness. …
5. Put things into perspective. …
6. Stop waiting for perfection. …
7. Change your view of fear. …
8. Put a timer to work.

Is overthinking a symptom of anxiety?

The act of overthinking can be linked to psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, although it’s hard to know which happens first in each individual. It’s sort of like a “chicken or egg” type conundrum. Either way, it’s apparent that overthinking can cause your mental health to decline./span>

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• powre (obsolete)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English power, poer, from Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin potēre, from Latin posse, whence English potent. Compare Modern French pouvoir. Displaced the native Old English anweald.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpaʊə(ɹ)/, /ˈpaʊ.ə(ɹ)/
  • (with triphthong smoothing) IPA^(key): /paə/, /paː/, /pɑː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpaʊ.ɚ/, /ˈpaʊɹ/, [ˈpʰaʊ̯.ɚ], [ˈpʰaʊ̯ɹ]
• Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ), -aʊə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pow‧er

Noun[edit]

power (countable and uncountable, plural powers)

1. The ability to do or undergo something.

   • 2018, Marilyn McCord Adams, Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God, page 74:

     If it is spirits who have power to suffer, it seems they would also have active powers to think and will.

2. (social) The ability to coerce, influence, or control.

   • 2022 March 8, “Magistrate Yang Wen-ke Sends Female Staff in Hsinchu County Government Roses for Their Contributions”, in HsinChu County Government‎^[1], archived from the original on 19 July 2022:

     The proportion of female colleagues in the Hsinchu County Government and its affiliated units has reached 61%. “Women Power” is the power behind over half of the services provided by the county government.

   1. (countable) The ability to affect or influence.

      • An incident which happened about this time will set the characters of these two lads more fairly before the discerning reader than is in the power of the longest dissertation.

      • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book iii:

        Thwackum, on the contrary, maintained that the human mind, since the fall, was nothing but a sink of iniquity, till purified and redeemed by grace. […] The favourite phrase of the former, was the natural beauty of virtue; that of the latter, was the divine power of grace.

      • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[2]:

        “ […] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. […]”

      • 1998, Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now:

        Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present.

   2. Control or coercion, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction).

      • 1949, Eric Blair, aka George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four:

        The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. […] We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

      • 2005, Columbia Law Review, April

        In the face of expanding federal power, California in particular struggled to maintain control over its Chinese population.

      • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

        It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

   3. (metonymically, chiefly in the plural) The people in charge of legal or political power, the government.

      Synonym: powers that be

      • 1978 November 17, The Star Wars Holiday Special‎^[3] (Science Fiction), →OCLC, spoken by Carrie Fisher, 1:30:50 from the start:

        No matter how different we appear, we’re all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage and more than anything else, our love for one another. This is the promise of the Tree of Life.

   4. (metonymically) An influential nation, company, or other such body.

      • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:

        Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world’s deepest valleys.

   5. (metonymically, archaic) An army, a military force.

      • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:

        Then when our powers in points of ſwords are ioin’d
        And cloſde in compaſſe of the killing bullet,
        Though ſtraite the paſſage and the port be made,
        That leads to Pallace of my brothers life,
        Proud is his fortune if we pierce it not.

3. (physical, uncountable) Effectiveness.
   1. Physical force or strength.

      He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium.

   3. Electricity or a supply of electricity.

      After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days.

      • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[4]:

        “My father had ideas about conservation long before the United States took it up. […] You preserve water in times of flood and freshet to be used for power or for irrigation throughout the year. […]”

      • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

        [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.

   4. A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
   5. The strength by which a lens or mirror magnifies an optical image.

      We need a microscope with higher power.

4. (colloquial, dated) A large amount or number.
   • 1872, Mark Twain, Roughing It:

     Don’t you mind my snuffling a little—becuz we’re in a power of trouble.

5. Any of the elementary forms or parts of machines: three primary (the lever, inclined plane, and pulley) and three secondary (the wheel-and-axle, wedge, and screw).

   the mechanical powers

6. (physics, mechanics) A measure of the effectiveness that a force producing a physical effect has over time. If linear, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the displacement of or in an object) ÷ time. If rotational, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the angle of displacement) ÷ time.
7. (mathematics)
   2. A product of equal factors (and generalizations of this notion): , read as « to the power of » or the like, is called a power and denotes the product , where appears times in the product; is called the base and the exponent.
   3. (set theory) Cardinality.
   4. (statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
8. (biblical, in the plural) In Christian angelology, an intermediate level of angels, ranked above archangels, but exact position varies by classification scheme.

Synonyms[edit]

See also Thesaurus:power

Antonyms[edit]

• impotence
• weakness

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• possible
• potent

Collocations[edit]

Descendants[edit]

• → German: Power
• → Welsh: pŵer

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Verb[edit]

power (third-person singular simple present powers, present participle powering, simple past and past participle powered)

1. (transitive) To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device).

   This CD player is powered by batteries.

2. (transitive) To hit or kick something forcefully.

   • 2011 February 1, Mandeep Sanghera, “Man Utd 3 — 1 Aston Villa”, in BBC‎^[5]:

     United keeper Edwin van der Sar was the unlikely provider as his clearance found Rooney, who had got ahead of last defender Richard Dunne, and the forward brilliantly controlled a ball coming from over his shoulder before powering a shot past Brad Friedel.

3. To enable or provide the impetus for.

   • 2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian‎^[6]:

     Abdul Sattar Edhi came to Karachi as a poor man from an Indian village in 1947. Starting with a small pharmacy tent, his work rapidly expanded, powered by donations from ordinary citizens.

Derived terms[edit]

• empower
• power down
• power through
• power up

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

power (comparative more power, superlative most power)

1. (Singapore, colloquial) Impressive.

   • 2001, Thian, Makan Time‎^[7]:

     Check out the POWER Mee Rebus & Lontong in this newly established Nasi Padang coffee shop at Market Street Carpark.

   • 2005, Bayya, Bayya Eats … and Other Stuff‎^[8]:

     Their performance is very the Power!

   • 2010, Caihong Lim & Kesheng Lim, Footprints All Over: Love, Happiness,Joy‎^[9]:

     His hokkien is damn power lah!

   • 2015, SGMOJI, Your Ultimate Guide to Locally-Grown Emojis‎^[10], archived from the original on 4 March 2016:

     Eh his soccer skills damn power one.

Further reading[edit]

• power at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams[edit]

• powre

German[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from French pauvre, from Latin pauper.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoːvər/, [ˈpoːvɐ]
• Hyphenation: po‧wer

Adjective[edit]

power (strong nominative masculine singular powerer, comparative powerer, superlative am powersten)

1. (regional, informal) poor, miserable

Declension[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈpaʊ̯ər/, [ˈpaʊ̯ɐ]
• Homophone: Power

Verb[edit]

power

1. singular imperative of powern
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of powern

Further reading[edit]

• “power” in Duden online
• “power” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache