Potency

//ˈpəʊtənsi// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Power, authority. countable, uncountable

    "I would to heauen I had your potencie, And you were Isabell: should it then be thus? No: I would tell what 'twere to be a Iudge, and what a prisoner."

  2. 2
    capacity to produce strong physiological or chemical effects wordnet
  3. 3
    The ability or capacity to perform something countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    the power or right to give orders or make decisions wordnet
  5. 5
    The ability or capacity to perform something; Sexual virility: the ability to become erect or achieve orgasm. countable, uncountable, usually

    "Pliny the Elder states that, to increase sexual potency, the right testis of an ass should be worn in a bracelet."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    the state of being potent; a male's capacity to have sexual intercourse wordnet
  2. 7
    Concentration; strength countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    the inherent capacity for coming into being wordnet
  4. 9
    Potentiality, ability, capacity. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    Cardinality. countable, dated, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
authorityamperagearmipotenceascendancyauthorisationauthoritativeness

Example

More examples

"Expired medicine may lose its potency."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin potentia. Doublet of Potenza.

Related phrases

orgastic potency

More for "potency"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.