This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
presentiment
fungible
plangent
deportment
puissance

This week's comments
AWADmail 634

Next week's theme
Words that can't be analyzed easily

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(PWIS-uhns, PYOO-i-suhns)

MEANING:

noun: Power or strength.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French puissance (power), from Latin posse (to be able). Ultimately from the Indo-European root poti- (powerful, lord) which also gave us possess, power, possible, posse, potent, plenipotentiary, Italian podesta, and Turkish pasha (via Persian). Earliest documented use: 1420.

USAGE:

"If a recent negotiated deal between Washington and Tehran reaches fruition, Turkey will achieve its goal of limiting Kurdish puissance without firing a shot."
Linda S. Heard; Kurdish Rebel Action Tests Turkey-US Ties; Gulf News (Dubai); Jun 5, 2007.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: