potentpo‧tent /ˈpəʊtənt $ ˈpoʊ-/ ●○○ adjective 
potent drugs a potent symbol of oppression Advertising is a potent force in showing smoking as a socially acceptable habit. A good company pension scheme remains a potent weapon for attracting staff.2powerful and effective: The treaty requires them to get rid of their most potent weapons.3a man who is potent is able to have sex or able to make a woman pregnant OPP impotent—potently adverb
WORD ORIGINpotent
Origin:
1400-1500 Latin present participle of potere ‘to be powerful’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- potent weapons
- His speech had a potent emotional impact.
- unusually potent drugs
- Is he so bloody potent that he can thump you and make love to you and you let him do it?
- Its human story is at least as potent as the visual energy that drives it.
- The combination of early breakfast, exhaust fumes and nerves is a potent cocktail!
- The idea, which smacks of Milton, was potent in the age.
- The jumbo jet is after all one of the most potent symbols of this century.
- They have a genuine and potent social power.
- What we found was sometimes tremendously potent and sometimes confounding.
Longman Language Activatormedicine/treatment
if a medicine, treatment etc is effective , it achieves the result that you want: · Antibiotics are only effective if you finish the whole course of treatment.effective in doing something: · Doctors soon realized that this drug was also effective in relieving the symptoms of arthritis.effective against: · Penicillin can be taken in various forms and is effective against a wide range of infections.highly effective: · Malarone is a new drug that has already proved highly effective.
if a medicine, treatment etc works , it has the effect that you want it to have: · I've tried several different diets, but none of them seem to work.· It's too late for surgery, but chemotherapy might just work.
a medicine or drug that is powerful or potent is very strong and works very quickly so that it should be used very carefully: · Little is known about the long-term effects of powerful drugs such as Duromine.· Nicotine is a powerful appetite suppressant.· Alcohol is much less potent than opium, because it works in an entirely different way.
a drug or type of treatment that will completely cure a painful or serious illness - use this especially when you do not really think that such a drug or treatment exists: · Unfortunately there's no miracle cure for a hangover.· Some alternative practitioners seem to regard the herb as some kind of miracle drug, but conventional doctors are warning them to be careful.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY a potent symbol of oppression Advertising is a potent force in showing smoking as a socially acceptable habit. A good company pension scheme remains a potent weapon for attracting staff.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1having a very powerful effect or influence on your body or mind SYN powerful: a potent symbol of oppression Advertising is a potent force in showing smoking as a socially acceptable habit. A good company pension scheme remains a potent weapon for attracting staff.· The soldiers' deaths are a powerful reminder of the price we pay for freedom.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· For emotional resonance, flags are about as potent as a quadrilateral of cloth can be.· Theophylline is roughly as potent as caffeine; theobromine is seven times weaker than either.
· Yet it is the Vauxhall that feels more potent low down.· Shifting tides have subsequently resulted in conflict among various segments of Arab society, none more potent than the struggle of women.· That comparison is made even more potent given that the large company tends to collapse the distinction between private and public power.· Saturated fats are more potent in raising cholesterol levels.· Correll thinks herbicides, more potent than they are given credit for, may be to blame.· They were portrayed as more potent and, moreover, incurable.· It held him in an interval of assessment more potent than the silence that accompanied it.· We had been delivered into the midst of a birth far more significant, profoundly more potent than our own.
· President Ortega faces the most potent challenge to his leadership since the Sandinistas took full control in 1981.· One of the major functions of the testes is to produce testosterone, the most potent androgen.· It remains to this day one of the most potent monuments to racial segregation.· Black peppercorns are the mature berries that are dried and have the most potent flavors.· Indeed, neuropeptide Y is the most potent central stimulant of feeding known.· In test tube and animal studies ABT-738 is the most potent anti-HIV drug to date.· This is the most potent and consistent performance shaping factor ever uncovered by psychologists.· Some have drawn up guidelines to snuff out only the most potent forms.
· Never before have we been so potent, not even in New York when we were combing nurses out of our hair.
· A magic-saturated shaman mushroom is very potent indeed, containing the essence of the shaman's magical power.· Fermented for three years - very potent.· But at least it would be better than letting herself be drawn in by his very potent brand of masculine attraction.· The crucial point is that the very potent symbol of Einstein was not a representation of the theory of relativity.
NOUN· Incidentally this clarifies why the man-machine system is such a potent combination.· Unfortunately it was a potent combination, and there was no known cure.
· There is no doubt that these potent drugs caused many problems.· Most of the potent drugs obtained from plants are known to act on specific physiological systems.· The second disadvantage of punishment is that rather like potent drugs, it leads to unwanted side-effects.
· Evangelicalism became an especially potent force in the attack on traditional pastimes.· The feeling that Hawaii had been unlawfully possessed by the United States was still a potent force.· But religious righteousness has been a more potent force than economic despair.· Alesi will be a potent force, particularly if the Michelin tyres work well in the rain.· Losing the potent force of Murdo MacLeod can not be used as an excuse, either.· These three potent forces - people, technology and competition - mean that industry can not afford to become institutionalized.· Technology drives changes Technological change is one of the most potent forces for upsetting existing industry structures.
· This is one reason why the crackling sound of the geiger counter has become such a potent symbol of the dangers.· The jumbo jet is after all one of the most potent symbols of this century.· And surfing is the most potent symbol - even stimulus - of that shift.· For in the Soviet Union nuclear energy is a potent symbol of high technology and modernity.· For the individual, employment may represent the most potent symbol of adult status and integration into the community.· The crucial point is that the very potent symbol of Einstein was not a representation of the theory of relativity.· The spider and its web were potent symbols of Necromundan life.
· Then she realised that her other hand held a much more potent weapon.· The Khans will tell you that many have now replaced the rifle with another potent weapon, the squash racquet.· But a good company pension scheme remains a potent weapon when it comes to attracting and keeping staff.
potent drugs a potent symbol of oppression Advertising is a potent force in showing smoking as a socially acceptable habit. A good company pension scheme remains a potent weapon for attracting staff.2powerful and effective: The treaty requires them to get rid of their most potent weapons.3a man who is potent is able to have sex or able to make a woman pregnant OPP impotent—potently adverb