plenipotentiary

English

WOTD – 25 February 2008

Etymology

From Medieval Latin plēnipotentiārius (“having full power”), Late Latin plēnipotēns, from plēnus (“full”) +‎ potēns (“mighty, powerful”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌplɛn.ɪ.pəʊˈtɛn.ʃəɹ.i/, /ˌplɛn.ɪ.pəʊˈtɛn.ʃi.əɹ.i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /plɛn.ɪ.poʊˈtɛn.ʃ(i)əɹ.i/, /plɛn.ɪ.pəˈtɛn.ʃi.ɛɹ.i/

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Noun

plenipotentiary (plural plenipotentiaries)

1. A person invested with full powers, especially as the diplomatic agent of a sovereign state, (originally) charged with handling a certain matter. [from c. 1645]
   • 1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown‎^[1]:

     None but the like-minded can come plenipotentiary to our court.

   • 1937, P. G. Wodehouse, 'Lord Emsworth and Others', Overlook, Woodstock: 2002, p 232.

     Meeting him in the street and ignoring the foul bowler hat he wore on his walks abroad, you would have put him down as a Bishop in mufti or, at the least, a plenipotentiary at one of the better courts.

   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     Two of them are hanging up there on Golgotha, and that ought to be enough to show the authority of Rome’s ah plenipotentiary.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:plenipotentiary.

Derived terms

• (ambassador and) minister plenipotentiary

Translations

person invested with supreme authority

• Bulgarian: упълномощен (bg) m (upǎlnomošten), пълномощен представител m (pǎlnomošten predstavitel)
• Czech: zplnomocněnec m
• Danish: befuldmægtiget c
• Dutch: gevolmachtigde (nl) m, plenipotentiaris m
• Esperanto: plenpovulo
• Finnish: täysivaltainen edustaja
• French: plénipotentiaire (fr) m or f
• German: Bevollmächtigter (de) m, Generalbevollmächtigter (de) m
• Icelandic: (representative with complete authority) fulltrúi sem hefur fullt umboð m
• Indonesian: wali (id)
• Italian: plenipotenziario (it) m, plenipotenziaria f
• Macedonian: полномо́шник m (polnomóšnik), ополномо́штеник m (opolnomóštenik)
• Polish: pełnomocnik (pl) m, ambasador (pl) m
• Portuguese: plenipotenciário m
• Romanian: plenipotențiar (ro)
• Russian: уполномо́ченный (ru) m (upolnomóčennyj), уполномо́ченная (ru) f (upolnomóčennaja), полномо́чный представи́тель m (polnomóčnyj predstavítelʹ), полпре́д (ru) m (polpréd)
• Spanish: plenipotenciario m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} fullmektig
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} fullmäktig (sv)
• Tatar: ^{(please verify)} wäqälätle
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} tam yetkili

Adjective

plenipotentiary (not comparable)

1. Invested with full power.
2. Of or relating to a plenipotentiary agent

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:plenipotentiary.

Synonyms

• plenipotent

Translations

invested with full power

• Bulgarian: упълномощен (bg) (upǎlnomošten)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 全權代表／全权代表 (cyun⁴ kyun⁴ doi⁶ biu²), 全權大使／全权大使 (cyun⁴ kyun⁴ daai⁶ si³)

• Czech: zplnomocněný
• Dutch: gevolmachtigd (nl)
• Esperanto: plenpova
• Finnish: täysivaltainen (fi)
• French: plénipotentiaire (fr)
• German: bevollmächtigt (de)
• Macedonian: полномо́шен m (polnomóšen), ополномо́штен m (opolnomóšten)
• Polish: pełnomocny m
• Portuguese: plenipotenciário m
• Russian: полномо́чный (ru) (polnomóčnyj), уполномо́ченный (ru) (upolnomóčennyj)
• Ukrainian: повнова́жний (povnovážnyj)

of or relating to a plenipotentiary

• Bulgarian: пълномощен (pǎlnomošten)
• Esperanto: plenpova
• Finnish: täysivaltainen (fi)
• Macedonian: полномошнички m (polnomošnički)
• Polish: pełnomocny m