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Jul 10, 2007
This week's theme
Words about diplomacy

This week's words
detente
plenipotentiary
extraterritoriality
demarche
identic

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

plenipotentiary

(plen-uh-puh-TEN-shee-er-ee, -shuh-ree)

noun: A person, such as a diplomatic agent, fully authorized to represent a government.

adjective: Invested with full power.

From Latin plenipotentiarius, from plenum (full) + potent (powerful).

"On Wednesday, Blair officially resigned as Britain's prime minister and immediately took on the role of senior plenipotentiary for the so-called Middle East Quartet -- the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia."
Matthew Fisher; Blair Named Mideast Envoy; Windsor Star (Canada); Jun 28, 2007.

See more usage examples of plenipotentiary in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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The man who thinks he can do without the world is indeed mistaken; but the man who thinks the world cannot do without him is mistaken even more. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)

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