ˈpōt ə nsē, -si noun
( -es )
Etymology: Latin potentia potency, power, from potent-, potens potent, powerful + -ia -y
1. : the quality or state of being potent:
a. : force , power , authority
if land armies ever lose their potency — Green Peyton
a place of potency and sway o' the state — Shakespeare
massed activity has a potency which individual effort can no longer claim — John Dewey
b.
(1) : the ability or capacity to achieve a result or effect : effectiveness
the potency of prominence for good or ill is not to be denied — F.L.Mott
the potency of religious faith to deal with fear, anxiety, and tension — Saturday Review
(2) : the ability or capacity to influence or affect thought or feeling
these lines … have, in addition, a very remarkable potency of suggestion — F.R.Leavis
must not doubt the potency of our ideas — C.M.Fuess
the charm and emotional potency of the music — Edward Sackville-West & Desmond Shawe-Taylor
c.
(1) : chemical or medicinal strength or efficacy
the potency of the drink
the potency of the drug
the material had lost its potency by being exposed to light — Current Biography
(2) : physical or phenomenal intensity or force
figured out that less than 100 H-bombs of 1954 potency could lay down a saturation pattern of poisonous fallout — New Republic
d. : the ability to copulate — usually used of the male
2.
a. : potentiality 1
clung to our atoms as the inmost nucleus of matter and as containing the promise and potency of life and mind — W.L.Sullivan
submitted … only to the finest human potencies, which is to say, to the potentiality of being human — New Republic
b. : the capacity for acting or being acted upon and hence for undergoing change
a ball has a potency for being thrown
a teacher is necessary to lead the student to an actual knowledge of what he knew only in potency — Henri DuLac
c. : initial total inherent capacity for development of a particular kind prior to the establishment of limiting controls — compare competence
3.
a. : one that has power or authority
it is his potency's wish — Rafael Sabatini
b. : a supernatural or demonic power ; specifically : a minor often local god
pray to the potencies of rebirth and resurrection in nature and human love — Hans Meyerhoff