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Stark vs Potent - What's the difference?

stark | potent |

In obsolete terms the difference between stark and potent

is that stark is hard, firm; obdurate while potent is a staff or crutch.

As an adverb stark

is starkly; entirely, absolutely.

As a verb stark

is to stiffen.

As a proper noun Stark

is {{surname}.

As a noun potent is

a heraldic fur formed by a regular tessellation of blue and white T shapes.

stark

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) stark, starc, from (etyl) stearc, . Related to (l). Modifying naked , an alternation of original .

Adjective

(er)
  • (obsolete) Hard, firm; obdurate.
  • Severe; violent; fierce (now usually in describing the weather).
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=The climate of Tibet: Pole-land
    • , date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=80 , magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest . It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.}}
  • (rare) Strong; vigorous; powerful.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • a stark , moss-trooping Scot
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
    • Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer.
  • Stiff, rigid.
  • * Spenser
    • Whose senses all were straight benumbed and stark .
  • * Shakespeare
    • Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff / Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • The north is not so stark and cold.
  • Hard in appearance; barren, desolate.
    • I picked my way forlornly through the stark , sharp rocks.
  • Complete, absolute, full.
    • I screamed in stark terror.
    A flower was growing, in stark contrast, out of the sidewalk.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • Consider the stark security / The common wealth is in now.
  • * Collier
    • He pronounces the citation stark nonsense.
  • * Selden
    • Rhetoric is very good or stark naught; there's no medium in rhetoric.
    Derived terms
    * (l)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • starkly; entirely, absolutely
    • He's gone stark , staring mad.
    She was just standing there, stark naked.
  • * Fuller
    • held him strangled in his arms till he was stark dead.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
    • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=“… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. …”}}
    Usage notes
    In standard modern English, the adverb is essentially restricted to stark naked'' and phrases meaning "crazy" on the pattern of ''stark raving mad .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) starken, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete, or, dialect) To stiffen.
    • Related terms
    * starkish * starkly * starkers

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    potent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Possessing strength.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.
  • Being effective, causing body effects.
  • :
  • Having a sharp or offensive taste.
  • (lb) Able to procreate.
  • Very powerful or effective.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:harsh and potent injuries
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Moses once more his potent rod extends.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (tincture) A heraldic fur formed by a regular tessellation of blue and white T shapes.
  • (obsolete) A prince; a potentate.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) A staff or crutch.

    • Antonyms

    * impotent

    Related terms

    * potence * potency * potentate * potential * potentiality

    Derived terms

    * idempotent * nilpotent * unipotent * (l)

    External links

    * * ----