Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Potency |
PotencyNoun1. Possession of controlling influence; "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her". 2. Capacity to produce strong physiological or chemical effects: "the toxin's potency"; "the strength of the drinks". 3. The inherent capacity for coming into being. 4. The state of being potent; a male's capacity to have sexual intercourse. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "potency" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Etymology: Potency \Po"ten*cy\, noun. [Latin expression potentia, from potens, -entis, potent. See Potent, and compare to Potance, Potence, Puissance.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: PotencySynonyms: effectiveness (n), potential (n), potentiality (n), power (n), powerfulness (n), strength (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: powerlessness (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Power | Noun: power; potency, potentiality; jiva; puissance, might, force, energy; dint; right hand, right arm; |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Potency |
| English words defined with "potency": Potence, Potentness, powerful. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "potency": anaphylactogen, anatoxine ♦ cannabinol, Carcinogenicity Tests ♦ Dose-Response Assessment, Drinke and Welcome ♦ Ethinyl Estradiol ♦ Flutamide ♦ laboratory aide, LABORATORY ASSISTANT, CULTURE MEDIA, LABORATORY TECHNICIAN, ARTIFICIAL BREEDING ♦ Milrinone ♦ protective alkali ♦ technical assistant. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "potency": Potance, Potence, Puissance. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I predigested it to increase its potency. (Farscape; writing credit: Olivier Cauvin) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Shows photo of woman scientist making a streptomycin assay at the Agricultural Experimental Station, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Streptomycin is a bacterial antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis. An assay is the determination of the biological for pharmacological potency of a drug. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Surgery rarely causes a loss of potency. (references) | |
Regular exercise increases the efficiency or potency of your body's own insulin. (references) | ||
However, surgery cannot usually restore potency that was lost before the operation. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Potency" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.74% of the time. "Potency" is used about 382 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.74% | 381 | 14,421 |
| Noun (common) | 0.26% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 382 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "potency": enhanced-potency, higher-potency, high-potency. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
potency | 31 |
male potency | 20 |
full potency | 7 |
potency wood | 6 |
cellex c high potency serum | 4 |
destructive impotent potency | 4 |
high potency vitamin | 3 |
potency total | 3 |
potency pill | 3 |
codeine phosphate potency | 3 |
potency drug | 3 |
dcl high potency | 3 |
male potency drug | 2 |
male potency supplement | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "potency"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | potencë (virility), virilitet, fuqi (capacity, energy, exponent, force, intensity, lustiness, might, output, power, proxy, ratio, strength, vigor, vigour), forcë (coercion, effect, emphasis, energy, force, intensity, might, mightiness, muscle, nerve, pith, power, puissance, strain, strength, vigor, vigour, violence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | فحولة القدرة على الجماع, مقدرة (ability, capability, energy, power, strength), نفوذ (authority, clout, in, influence, leverage, power, prestige, purchase, reign, standing, tutelage, weight, weightiness), قوة (ability, agency, arm, authority, birr, capacity, clout, dint, energy, faculty, force, forcefulness, forcing, hardihood, intension, intensity, iron, leverage, might, operation, power, severity, sinew, solidity, stamina, starch, stoutness, strength, vehemence, vigor, vigour, violence, virility, virtue), قدرة (ability, capability, capacity, faculty, fitness, leverage, might, power, qualification, strength), سلطة حكمة, إمكانية (chance, possibility, potential, prospect, scope), رجولية (masculinity, virility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | сила (definition, drive, dynamism, effect, energy, feck, fiber, fibre, flush, force, forcefulness, forte, goodness, hardness, impetus, intension, intensity, inwardness, kick, lustiness, medium, might, mightiness, muscle, muscularity, nerve, pith, power, prowess, punch, sinews, snap, stamina, strength, stringency, tenacity, thews, tuck, vehemence, verve, vigor, vigour, vim, vinegar, violence, virility, virtue, virulence, vis, volume, zap, zip), човек с власт, власт (arm, attribution, authority, authorization, control, disposition, grasp, grip, gripe, hand, helm, hold, jurisdiction, lordship, mastership, mastery, obedience, power, reign, rule), мощ (energy, might, mightiness, momentum, muscle, power, strength, vigor, vigour), могъщество (dominance, might, power), авторитет (authority, control, force, hold, obedience), потенциалност (potentiality), потентност, действие (act, action, deed, effect, movements, operation, performance, play, process, run, scene, scourge). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 有力 (Potent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | síla (force, might, pith, power, strength, thews, vigor, vigour), moc (authority, badly, clout, enormously, force, forcefulness, might, mighty, much, power, strength, sway, too, very). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | potentia, styrke (force, pharmaceutical form, power, strength, sturdiness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | potentie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | نیرومندی (Intensity, Vigor, Virility), لیاقت (Ability, Aptitude, Autarchy, Merit), قدرت (Authority, Godown, Might, Nerve, Posse, Power, Rod, Sovereignty, Vim, Vis, Zing), تواناءی (Ability, Authority, Energy, Influence, Might, Strength, Vim), توان (Exponent, Power, Valence, Vigor, Vim). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | puissance (power), potentialité (potential, potentiality), virilité, influence, force (power), activite. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Potenz (ability, power, square, virility), macht (ability, control, force, grasp, makes, matter, might, mightiness, muscle, power, rags, strength, sway), Zeugungskraft. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σεξουαλική ικανότητα, δύναμη (brawn, faculty, force, manpower, might, pithiness, power, puissance, robustness, strength, sturdiness, thews, vigor, vigorousness, vigour, vim, virtue), δραστικότητα (activity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | פוט צי", עצמ" (force, herself, intensity, might, power, strength, vigour, volume), און (power, strength, substance, wealth), או ות (strength), כוח 'ברא (sexual power, virility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | befolyás (ascendancy, drag, hank, hold, impact, inflow, influence, leading, lever, leverage, suck, sway), tekintély (authority, consideration, countenance, credit, headship, prestige, standing), potencia, hathatóság (cogency, efficacy, efficiency). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | keampuhan (magical power), daya (capacity, energy, power, ruse, trick). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | potenza (input, might, power, puissance, strengh, strength). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 効力 (effect, efficacy, validity), ポーランド語 (beeper, death, drink, drip, fall drop by drop, fried potato, mail box, making up only parts of one's face instead of doing a full make-up job, pager, pocket, pocket bell, pocket bike, pocket computer, pocket money, pocket monster, pocketable, pocket-size, pod, poem, poetic, poetical, poetry, point, point and shoot, point getter, point of sales system, point of view, point size, pointer, pointing, poison, pole, Polish, poll, polling, ponytail, pop, pop art, pop country, pop fly, pop gospel, pop jazz, popgroup, poppy, pops, popular, popular music, pop-up, pop-up window, POS system, position, positioning, positive, positive film, positron, possibility, post, post-, post office, postcard, post-doc, poster, poster color, poster session, poster value, Post-It, postmaster, postmodern, post-process, postscript, post-season, pot, potato, potato chip, potato chips, pot-au-feu, potential, pottering, soup, to break down, to fail), 勢力 (energy, force, influence, might, power, strength). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ポテンツ , せいりょく (energy, force, influence, might, power, strength, vigor, vitality), "うりょく (effect, efficacy, the intensity or illuminating power of light, validity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 힘 (Force, Forces, POWER, Powers, VIS). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | trioshid, lajerid (powerfulness, prowess, soundness, starkness, strength, vigour), cummaght (influence, power, province). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | otencypay potência (candle-power, capacitance, capacity, force, intensity, might, mightiness, output, potential, potentiality), potência, poder (ability, action, afford, ascendance, ascendancy, ascendence, be able to, can, energy, force, grasp, hand, hold, inning, leverage, may, might, power, puissance, reach, rod, ruling, to be able), força (action, dint, flush, force, might, mightiness, nerve, potentiality, power, pressure, raciness, steam, stoutness, strain, strength, vehemence, vigor, vigour, vim, violence, vitality), energia (action, activity, drive, driving, efficiency, energy, force, ginger, go, grasp, gumption, handgrip, heartiness, intensity, iron, ironwork, kick, liveliness, lustiness, main, mettle, momentum, nerve, output, pep, pith, power, push, snap, spring, spunk, stamina, steam, stoutness, strength, verve, vigor, vigour, vim, virility, vitality, zip), autoridade (arm, authority, command, domination, dominion, energy, hand, majesty, mastership, mastery, power, right, rod, scepter, sceptre, warrant). (various references) putere (authority, backbone, capacity, degree, depth, energy, force, greatness, hold, in, jurisdiction, keenness, masterdom, mastery, measure, might, mightiness, nerve, pith, power, puissance, punch, reign, resistance, right, rulership, sap, stamina, steam, strength, sturdiness, sway, vigor, vigorousness, vigour, vim), posibilitate de dezvoltare, influenţã (action, ascendancy, authority, carry over, credit, effect, force, hold, impact, influence, influenza, leaven, push, reaction, weight), forţã (drive, energy, force, greatness, influence, locomotive power, measure, might, mightiness, nerve, power, punch, sinew, strength, stress, vigor, vigour, vim, violence, weight). (various references) сила (arm, efficacy, energy, force, force of, forcefulness, libido, lustiness, might, nerve, pitch, pith, power, strength, strengths, vehemence, vigor, vigour, vim, violence, virtue). (various references) potentnost, snaga (brawn, clout, firmness, force, kick, leverage, might, power, rankness, sap, sinew, stamina, strength, sturdiness, vigor, vigour, wallop), moć (capability, faculty, grasp, leverage, might, mightiness, power). (various references) potencialidad (potentiality), potencia (achievement, flippancy, likelihood, output, power, yield). (various references) potens (power), makt (ability, agency, ascendancy, authority, command, control, dominion, force, governance, in, lordship, might, power, tooth), kraft (drive, energy, force, impact, impetus, intensity, kick, lustiness, might, pith, pizzazz, power, sinew, strength, vigor, vigour, vim, virtue, virulence). (various references) potansiyel (back demand, potential), kuvvet (beef, command, dint, energy, exponent, force, lustiness, main, might, pith, power, punch, robustness, sinew, stamina, strength, thews, vigor, vigour, vinegar, vis, zing), iktidar (ability, capability, capacity, potential, power), güç (ability, arduous, arm, baffling, capability, capacity, clout, clutch, clutches, command, control, difficult, dominance, energy, force, forcefulness, hard, intensity, iron, might, pep, pith, potential, power, punch, rod, sinew, spirit, stamina, steam, sting, strength, stuffing, sword, tone, tricksy, vigor, vigour, vim, vis, vitality, zing), etki (action, bearing, clout, drag, drift, effect, effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, force, forcefulness, hold, impact, impress, impression, imprint, incidence, influence, interest, jolt, leaven, penetration, point, pull, purchase, reflection, reflexion, ring, sound, stamp, sway, virtue, weight), cinsel güç (virility). (various references) сила (agency, cloud, efficacy, force, iron, muscle, nerve, pith, potence, power, strength, vehemence, vigor, vigour, wealth), володар (arbiter, archon, chief, king, overlord, owner, possessor, potentate, proprietor), могутність (arm, mightiness, potence, power, puissance), ефективність (effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, strength), потенція. (various references) sự hiệu nghiệm, sự hùng mạnh hiệu lực, quyền thế (dominion, grandeur, lordship, power), lực lượng. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | virtus. (various references) |
| German | 100 BCE-Modern | Potenz. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "potency": impotency, prepotency, subpotency, totipotency. (additional references) | |
| |
"Potency" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Kootenay, patentcy, photech, poten, potence, Putinki. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "potency" (pronounced pō"tunsē) |
| 5 | -t u n s ē | accountancy, competency, consistency, constancy, consultancy, expectancy, hesitancy, incompetency, inconsistency, inconstancy, latency, militancy. |
| 4 | -u n s ē | absorbency, agency, ascendancy, ascendency, buoyancy, clemency, cogency, complacency, Conservancy, constituency, contingency, counterinsurgency, currency, decency, deficiency, delinquency, dependency, despondency, discrepancy, dormancy, efficiency, emergency, equivalency, excellency, exigency, expediency, fluency, frequency, immunodeficiency, incumbency, indecency, inefficiency, infancy, infrequency, insolvency, insurgency, interagency, irrelevancy, leniency, malignancy, nonemergency, occupancy, poignancy, pregnancy, presidency, proficiency, redundancy, regency, relevancy, residency, resiliency, solvency, stridency, stringency, sufficiency, tenancy, tendency, transparency, truancy, urgency, vacancy, vagrancy, vibrancy. |
| 3 | -n s ē | bouncy, chancy, deviancy, fancy, fiancee, mincy, Nancy, necromancy, teensy. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-n-o-p-t-y" | |
-1 letter: cotype. | |
-2 letters: cento, coney, conte, copen, cyton, netop, peony, ponce, tepoy, toney. | |
-3 letters: cent, cone, cony, cope, copy, cote, nope, note, once, open, pent, peon, poet, pone, pony, tone, tony, tope, tyne, type, typo. | |
-4 letters: cep, con, cop, cot, coy, eon, net, not, one, ope, opt, pec, pen, pet, pot, pye, ten, toe, ton. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-n-o-p-t-y" | |
+2 letters: copayment, genotypic, impotency, syncopate. | |
+3 letters: competency, copayments, counterspy, decryption, encryption, endophytic, hypertonic, hypocenter, phenocryst, phenotypic, postsynced, prepotency, pycnometer, subpotency, syncopated, syncopates. | |
+4 letters: amylopectin, competently, copyediting, corpulently, counterplay, counterploy, cryptogenic, cyproterone, decryptions, encryptions, genotypical, hypocenters, hypocentral, lycanthrope, nephrectomy, perfunctory, phenocrysts, pinocytoses, polycentric, polygenetic, polytechnic, pycnometers, pyrotechnic, pyroxenitic, retinoscopy, splenectomy, syncopative, totipotency. | |
+5 letters: amylopectins, appendectomy, compensatory, complacently, conceptually, contemporary, contemptibly, counterplays, counterploys, cyproterones, entropically, glycoprotein, incompetency, incompletely, incorporeity, intercompany, lycanthropes, monophyletic, nympholeptic, opalescently, pancytopenia, phenocrystic, phenotypical, phonetically, phylogenetic, pinealectomy, polycentrism, polytechnics, proficiently, proteoglycan, pyrogenicity, pyrotechnics, pyrotechnist, streptomycin. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 6F 74 65 6E 63 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. --- - . -. -.-. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01101111 01110100 01100101 01101110 01100011 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P o t e n c y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 006F 0074 0065 006E 0063 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)50818671806991 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
