plenipotentiary

Definition

A person invested with full powers, especially as the diplomatic agent of a sovereign state, (originally) charged with handling a certain matter.

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

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