Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Power; might.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Power; strength; force; vigor.
  • noun Jurisdiction; power; control.
  • noun Armed force.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Power; strength; might; force; potency.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Power, might or potency.
  • noun The high-jump component of the sport of show jumping.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun power to influence or coerce

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from poissant, powerful, present participle of pooir, to be able; see power.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman pussance, pusaunce et al., from puissant ("powerful").

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Examples

  • Could pissens be French-based Creole (maybe Haitian, if the ad was made in America), as in French "puissance" (power, potential, see Chinese neng 能)?

    languagehat.com: NAME THAT LANGUAGE! 2005

  • O thou of beautiful smiles, Word is a cow, in consequence of her puissance which is both divine and not divine.

    The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 Books 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli

  • Well, what Spenser did with practically every Western myth, epic, and writer before him makes Faulkner look like a pre-schooler using slight of hand to hide a coin), his passion, his facility with language (that is, if you ignore the occasional "puissance"), his psychological insight.

    Telecommuter Talk 2009

  • Une idée fausse, mais claire et précise, aura toujours plus de puissance dans le monde qu'une idée vraie mais complexe.

    Public Speaking 2009

  • Une idée fausse, mais claire et précise, aura toujours plus de puissance dans le monde qu'une idée vraie mais complexe.

    Milestones 2009

  • Une idée fausse, mais claire et précise, aura toujours plus de puissance dans le monde qu'une idée vraie mais complexe.

    Paris 2009

  • As a mark of his noble puissance, shops and restaurants throughout the city unhesitatingly honored his money at full face value.

    LIGHTING OUT FOR THE TERRITORY JR. ROY MORRIS 2010

  • How, Dalgliesh wondered, had the sculptor managed to convey the sweetness and the obstinacy of that individual smile, to model compassion and yet reduce it to self-delusion, to show humility garbed in a monk's habit -nd yet convey an overriding impression of the puissance of evil.

    She Closed Her Eyes 2010

  • As a mark of his noble puissance, shops and restaurants throughout the city unhesitatingly honored his money at full face value.

    LIGHTING OUT FOR THE TERRITORY JR. ROY MORRIS 2010

  • Une idée fausse, mais claire et précise, aura toujours plus de puissance dans le monde qu'une idée vraie mais complexe.

    Milestones 2009

Comments

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  • This word is one of the few that is wholly Shakespearean in my view.

    I also like to say "wholly."

    April 28, 2008

  • "Where is the graveyard of dead gods? What lingering mourner waters their mounds? There was a time when Jupiter was the king of the gods, and any man who doubted his puissance was ipso facto a barbarian and an ignoramus. But where in all the world is there a man who worships Jupiter today?

    - H. L. Mencken, 'Where is the graveyard of dead gods?'

    September 29, 2008

  • "Important people came in from the farther corners of the Barony, and there were a good many Conversationals leading up to the main Conversational on Reaping Day. Susan was expeccted to be present at these--mostly as a decorative testimony to the Mayor's continuing puissance." From Wizard and Glass by Stephen King.

    January 28, 2011