potestas
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of potestas
First recorded in 1650–60, potestas is from the Latin word potestās literally, power, control, authority
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.
Some enslaved people were sold into bondage through patria potestas.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
The patria potestas, the authority of the father, was absolute.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2022
On the headboard of one of the beds, some past student had inscribed, with a Sharpie and a careful hand: ipsa scientia potestas est.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
Agrippa received proconsular imperium and the tribunicia potestas for five years, powers that were reconferred with those of Augustus in 13 B. C.
From A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Boak, Arthur Edward Romilly
One of these declared it to be the sole right of the people to decide capital cases. 22-24 O graviter desiderata . . . potestas!
From Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Luce, Edmund
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.
