• (RP) IPA: /ˈpəʊt(ə)nt/
• (GA) enPR: pōtʹnt IPA: /ˈpoʊt(ə)nt/, [ˈpʰoʊ̯ʔn̩t], [-n̩ʔ]

potent

1. Possessing strength.

   a potent argument

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384 ↗:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.

2. Powerfully effective.

   a potent medicine

3. Having a sharp or offensive taste.
4. (of a male) Able to procreate.
5. Very powerful or effective.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:

     harsh and potent injuries

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 10”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Moses once more his potent rod extends.

• French: puissant
• Italian: potente
• Portuguese: potente
• Spanish: potente

potent (plural potents)

1. (tincture) A heraldic fur formed by a regular tessellation of blue and white T shapes.
2. (obsolete) A prince; a potentate.
3. (obsolete) A staff or crutch.

• impotent
• (heraldry) counterpotent

• potence
• potency
• potentate
• potential
• potentiality
• potentiate
• potenty, potente