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The adjective plenipotentiary is typically used, as in our second example, after the noun it modifies in the ranking of diplomatic hierarchy. Plenipotentiary gets its power from its Latin roots: plenus, meaning "full," and potens, "powerful." When government leaders dispatch their ambassador plenipotentiary, minister plenipotentiary, or envoy plenipotentiary, they are not just sending an agent to deal with foreign affairs but one having full power to act on the behalf of his or her country and government. The word extraordinary is also found in titles of government representatives-sometimes in combination with plenipotentiary (as in "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary")-to denote an agent assigned to a particular (or extraordinary) diplomatic mission. Both the adjective and the noun plenipotentiary (meaning "a person invested with full power to transact business") appeared in the mid-17th century.
Examples of plenipotentiary in a Sentence
Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Sep. 2022
The Scripps National Spelling Bee has come to a close, and this year has once again reminded us how brilliant these kids are, able to spell words like sesquipedalian and plenipotentiary with zero hesitation.
—Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 3 June 2022
After Teruzzi was made plenipotentiary to the Italian colony in Cyrenaica, the two splashed out on sumptuous receptions and a splendid rococo residence.
—Caroline Moorehead, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2020
His previous postings have included stints as attaché in Saudi Arabia, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Malawi and Liberia, and then as director-general of the department of African Affairs at the foreign ministry.
—Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, Quartz Africa, 21 Mar. 2020
After nearly a decade as Russia's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, arguably his country's most critical foreign emissary, the sixty-six-year-old is now a pariah in Washington.
—Garrett M. Graff, Esquire, 11 May 2017
Ezequiel Padilla, Foreign Affairs, 10 Sep. 2024
These succeeded to the extent that a meeting was brought about in 1880 between plenipotentiaries of the three belligerents and the American Ministers accredited to those countries on board an American naval vessel in the harbor of Arica.
—Edwin M. Borchard, Foreign Affairs, 7 Oct. 2011
The hope of students of Latin-American affairs that the present protocol marks the termination of this bitter controversy may be somewhat tempered by the realization that this is not the first time that a protocol of adjustment has been signed by plenipotentiaries.
—Edwin M. Borchard, Foreign Affairs, 7 Oct. 2011
Walpole’s most frequent correspondent was Horace Mann, the British plenipotentiary in Florence, Italy.
—Catherine Ostler, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2022
Then came Bob, the king of Thailand’s valet plenipotentiary.
—Alejandro Varela, Harper's magazine, 16 Sep. 2019
Morris was eventually the United States’ plenipotentiary to France and spent years afterward touring Europe and having affairs there.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 4 June 2019
Cite this Entry
“Plenipotentiary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plenipotentiary. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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