podesta
podesta noun: a chief magistrate of various Italian republics and city-states in the Middle Ages.
Noun
podesta (plural podestas)
- A chief magistrate of various Italian republics and city-states in the Middle Ages.
- Secular palaces, such as that of the Tolomei, were rented for municipal use, and officials such as the Podestà were found lodgings in others.2022, Jane Stevenson, Siena, Head of Zeus, p. 65
- A municipal administrator during the Italian Fascist regime (1927–43).
- M.B. herself is tormented by anxiety […] for her husband, who, as Podestà of this town, is likely soon to get into trouble.1943, Iris Origo, War in Val d'Orcia, Pushkin Press, published 2017, page 131
Proper noun capitalized: Podesta
Podesta (plural Podestas)
- A surname from Italian.
Forms of podesta
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | podestas |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Podestas |
Origin of podesta
From Italian podesta, from Latin potestas (“power; powerful one”). Doublet of poustie. See potent.
Borrowed from Italian Podestà.
Words formed from podesta
Questions about podesta
- What does podesta mean?
- Podesta means a chief magistrate of various Italian republics and city-states in the Middle Ages.
- What part of speech is podesta?
- Podesta can be a noun or a proper noun.
- What is the plural of podesta?
- The plural of podesta is podestas.
Words near podesta in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: podesta (page history and authors); Podesta (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “podesta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/podesta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.