wield
pronunciation
How to pronounce wield in British English:
UK [wiːld]
How to pronounce wield in American English:
US [wiːld]
-
- Verb:
- of power or authority
- handle effectively
Word Origin
- wield
- wield: [OE] To wield something is etymologically to ‘command’ or ‘rule’ it. Indeed, that is what the word originally meant in English. ‘Handle, use’ is a secondary development. It goes back to a prehistoric base *wald-, which also produced German walten, Lithuanian valdyti, Czech vládnouti, and Polish władać ‘rule, govern’ and Russian vladet’ ‘possess, own’. And this in turn was probably an extension of Indo-European *wal-, source also of Latin valēre ‘be strong’, from which English gets valid, value, etc.=> valid, value
- wield (v.)
- Old English weldan (Mercian), wieldan, wealdan (West Saxon) "have power over, compel, tame, subdue" (class VII strong verb; past tense weold, past participle gewealden), merged with weak verb wyldan, both from Proto-Germanic *waldan "to rule" (cognates: Old Saxon and Gothic waldan, Old Frisian walda "to govern, rule," Old Norse valda "to rule, wield, to cause," Old High German waltan, German walten "to rule, govern"). The Germanic words and cognates in Balto-Slavic (Old Church Slavonic vlado "to rule," vlasti "power," Russian vladeti "to reign, rule, possess, make use of," Lithuanian veldu "to rule, possess") probably are from PIE *woldh-, extended form of root *wal- "to be strong, to rule" (see valiant). Related: Wielded; wielding.
Example
- 1. It is still too uncomfortable to wield unilateral power overtly .
- 2. In europe , summits of national leaders wield political clout that trumps other checks and balances .
- 3. The party leaders are stalling , reluctant to wield their metaphorical axes until they are sure where the chopping would end .
- 4. It may represent the sort of " soft power " that japan hopes to wield as its economic might is eclipsed by china .
- 5. However , government officials believe brazil 's big banks wield hefty market power , and worry that they will gobble up the benefits instead of passing them on to consumers .