Puissant
What it means
Possessing great power, influence, or effectiveness.
Reach for it when giving an elevated description of a formidable person, force, or institution
The once small coalition became a puissant advocate for clean coastal water.
Words to choose between 6
| playful | |
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| everyday | |
| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
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playful
Suits a major player with recognized clout in a field
Careful Heavyweight is informal and can reduce nuanced influence to competitive rank.
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everyday
Fits when great strength or influence can be stated directly
Careful Powerful has none of puissant's historical grandeur but is much easier to understand.
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professional
Fits if the ability to shape decisions is the specific power
Careful Influential does not imply physical strength or formal authority.
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professional
Suits concentrated effectiveness that produces a strong result
Careful Potent often describes substances, arguments, or symbols rather than institutions.
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formal
Fits when capability commands respect and perhaps apprehension
Careful Formidable introduces difficulty or intimidation absent from purely positive praise.
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literary
Suits imposing strength expressed with emotional or epic force
Careful Mighty can sound archaic, humorous, or exaggerated.
Opposites 3
- powerless
- feeble
- ineffectual
Common phrases 3
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puissant force
Public trust made the alliance a puissant force for reform.
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puissant ruler
The treaty constrained even the region's most puissant ruler.
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puissant influence
The port exercised a puissant influence on language and trade.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated