Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
power to influence or coerce;
- Example: "the puissance of the labor vote"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Puissance \Pu"is*sance\, n. [F., fr. puissant. See Puissant,
and cf. Potency, Potance, Potence.]
Power; strength; might; force; potency. " Youths of
puissance." --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
The power and puissance of the king. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, puissance and
puissant are usually dissyllables.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
puissance
n 1: power to influence or coerce; "the puissance of the labor
vote"