POTENTATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does potentate mean? 

• POTENTATE (noun)
  The noun POTENTATE has 1 sense:

1. a ruler who is unconstrained by law

  Familiarity information: POTENTATE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POTENTATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A ruler who is unconstrained by law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dictator; potentate

Hypernyms ("potentate" is a kind of...):

ruler; swayer (a person who rules or commands)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "potentate"):

shogun (a hereditary military dictator of Japan; the shoguns ruled Japan until the revolution of 1867-68)

strongman (a powerful political figure who rules by the exercise of force or violence)

autocrat; despot; tyrant (a cruel and oppressive dictator)

Instance hyponyms:

Duvalier; Francois Duvalier; Papa Doc (oppressive Haitian dictator (1907-1971))

Baby Doc; Duvalier; Jean-Claude Duvalier (son and successor of Francois Duvalier as president of Haiti; he was overthrown by a mass uprising in 1986 (born in 1951))

El Caudillo; Francisco Franco; Franco; General Franco (Spanish general whose armies took control of Spain in 1939 and who ruled as a dictator until his death (1892-1975))

Adolf Hitler; Der Fuhrer; Hitler (German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945))

Benito Mussolini; Il Duce; Mussolini (Italian fascist dictator (1883-1945))

Tojo; Tojo Eiki; Tojo Hideki (Japanese army officer who initiated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and who assumed dictatorial control of Japan during World War II; he was subsequently tried and executed as a war criminal (1884-1948))

 Context examples 

It is then the interest of the enemies of this potentate to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a breach between his country and ours?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has been ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this country.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The letter—for it was a letter from a foreign potentate—was received six days ago.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)