a potiori

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin denominatio a potiori (“naming from the stronger”).

Adjective

a potiori (not comparable)

1. (of an argument) from the stronger or more important; according to the majority
2. (grammar) The use of the more generic category (for agreement) with combinations of words from two or more selective categories (such as gender). For example Each boy or girl took his book., or in French Le manteau et la robe sont verts, mais les chaussures ne sont pas vertes. (The (masculine) coat and the (feminine) dress are (masculine plural) green, but the (feminine plural) shoes are not (feminine plural) green.)
3. (of a name or designation) From the most important.
   • 1870, Horatio Balch Hackett, A Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts of the Apostles, page 127:

     ... 40 embrace the period from Abraham's immigration into Canaan until the departure out of Egypt , and that the sacred writers call this the period of sojourn or servitude in Egypt a potiori , i . e . from its leading characteristic .

   • 1893, Johann Eduard Erdmann, A History of Philosophy, page 286:

     Since in their philosophy Gnostic and Neo - Platonic thought are contained as elements , the period may be a potiori designated as the patristic period or the period of Patristics . The relation of the three tendencies to each other […]