puissance Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun power to influence or coerce
    • the puissance of the labor vote

WordNet

Pu"is*sance noun
Etymology
F., fr.puissant. See Puissant, and cf. Potency, Potance, Potence.
Definitions
  1. Power; strength; might; force; potency. " Youths of puissance." Tennyson.
    The power and puissance of the king. Shak.
    ✍ In Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, puissance and puissant are usually dissyllables.

Webster 1913