potentate.

A ruler or person holding great power, especially one portrayed as exercising imposing authority.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a local potentate
• a foreign potentate

On the page

The local potentate received the petition as though it were a request for favor.

Even the foreign potentate had to wait while the archivist found the record.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Singular potentate; plural potentates. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.