Potency Meaning
/ˈpəʊtənsi/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounPower, authority.
nounThe ability or capacity to perform something
Sentence Examples
Expired medicine may lose its potency.
Would regulating the potency of marijuana create new opportunities for the black market?
Both vaccines require two doses for full potency.
CEFR Practice Quiz
To combat the resistant bacteria, the lab increased the ____ of the antibiotic.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ of the new antibiotic was tested against a range of resistant bacterial strains.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Latin potentia. Doublet of Potenza.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I would to heauen I had your potencie,
And you were Isabell: should it then be thus?
No: I would tell what 'twere to be a Iudge,
and what a prisoner."
— c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 67, column 2:
"Beset on either hand by potencies greater than himself, he becomes the battle-ground of immortals."
— 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VIII. The Orestea: III. Eumenides”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 206:
"The doctor is the modern master of the mythological realm, the knower of all the secret ways and words of potency."
— 1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 9:
"Pliny the Elder states that, to increase sexual potency, the right testis of an ass should be worn in a bracelet."
— 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 49:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
To combat the resistant bacteria, the lab increased the ____ of the antibiotic.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ of the new antibiotic was tested against a range of resistant bacterial strains.