omnipotent

1 of 2

adjective

om·nip·o·tent äm-ˈni-pə-tənt

Synonyms of omnipotent next

often capitalized : almighty sense 1

: having virtually unlimited authority or influence

an omnipotent ruler

obsolete : arrant

omnipotently adverb

omnipotent

2 of 2

noun

: one who has unlimited power or authority : one who is omnipotent

capitalized : god sense 1

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Knowledge Is Power: Defining Omnipotent

The word omnipotent made its way into English through Anglo-French, but it ultimately comes from a combination of the Latin prefix omni-, meaning "all," and the word potens, meaning "potent." The omni- prefix has also given us similar words such as omniscient (meaning "all-knowing") and omnivorous (describing one that eats both plants and animals). Although omnipotent is most often used in general contexts to mean "having virtually unlimited authority or influence" (as in "an omnipotent ruler"), it was originally applied specifically to the power held by an almighty deity. The word has been used as an English adjective since the 14th century, and since the 16th century it has also been used as a noun referring to one who is omnipotent.

Examples of omnipotent in a Sentence

Adjective Rockefeller mostly left the uncertain task of drilling to thousands of independent producers, who then competed furiously to sell him crude oil at the cheapest possible price. As a result, he was loathed by the drillers, who saw him as an omnipotent deity shadowing their lives. —

Ron Chernow, Vanity Fair, May 1998

Whether or not the Big Bang truly implies that the universe was created out of nothing by an omnipotent deity in a wholly gratuitous act of love, it does demonstrate that the universe is, as philosophers say, contingent—that is, it need not have existed. —

Jim Holt, Harper's, November 1994

Tad fixes another round and by the time you all troop out of the bathroom you are feeling omnipotent. —

Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City, 1984

the nearly universal religious belief that God is omnipotent and omniscient Noun He pursued his own thoughts without heeding me. 'Jane! you think me, I daresay, an irreligious dog: but my heart swells with gratitude to the beneficent God of this earth just now. … I did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower—breathed guilt on its purity: the Omnipotent snatched it from me.' —

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Adjective

The room got quiet and sad—omnipotent AI was a horse of a different color. —

Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 2 Dec. 2024 Oli Kay has touched on this today: the dying light of the days when a club’s manager was omnipotent. —

Phil Hay, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024 For decades during and after the Cold War, Turkey’s secularist devlet baba was seen as omnipotent, powerful, and almighty. —

Soner Cagaptay, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2023 There is something so wonderfully obscene about having a town with hundreds of people living their lives, running into conflict, hoping for better, and your omnipotent self is stuck on which bookcase best fits this living room corner. —

Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 2 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for omnipotent