adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of omnipotent
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin omnipotent-, stem of omnipotēns “all-powerful”; equivalent to omni- + potent 1
Explanation
If you want to describe someone who can do absolutely anything, reach for the adjective omnipotent. Omnipotent comes from the Latin words for total (omni) and power (potent). Omnipotent is frequently used for deities, but can apply to any exaggerated description of power. If you think that love rules the world, then to you, love is omnipotent. On the other hand, if you think that brute force wins, then maybe your idea of an omnipotent person is a mob boss. The stress is on the second syllable: om-NIP-uh-tent.
Vocabulary lists containing omnipotent
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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Grade 9, List 2
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A Wrinkle in Time
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Omnipotent and omnipresent, God already possesses everything — depending on your cosmic perspective, God is everything.
From New York Times • May 11, 2022
Omnipotent, or omnishambles?Posters for plutocratsCrisis, what crisis?Labour’s lost loveLet’s go GermanSin-free aleThe father of fracking George Mitchell, who died on July 26th, was a one-man refutation of the declinist hypothesis.
From Economist • Aug. 1, 2013
Mr. Bernard, who was born Perry Arnold Baker but became best known as the Omnipotent Oom, is a colorful, still-marginal figure who was prescient about the popularity of yoga in American life.
From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2010
For the Baer fight, for example, he trained at the yoga roost of Dr. Pierre Bernard, the Omnipotent Oom of the Sunday supplements.
From Time Magazine Archive
He soon will descend, Creation’s Omnipotent King, While legions of angels his chariot attend, And palm-wreaths of victory bring.
From Poems With a Sketch of the Life and Experience of Annie R. Smith by Smith, Rebekah
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
