impotent
25
6.8
- adjective
- /ˈɪmpətənt/
:
impotente
- The land dribbled through our hands in moments when disease and hunger rendered us impotent.
- rendered impotent
- politically impotent
- impotent rage
And here is the most infantile, impotent move.
- And here is the most infantile, impotent move.
- You know, it's so, it's so impotent.
- For now, we will just continue to Stew in impotent rage over the sheer stupidity of this whole situation.
- Yeah, but the government is very slow and it's turned itself into a bit of an impotent bureaucratic nest when it when it's dealing with charities.
- It's no longer sacred as it was to the earlier impotent pantheism.
- After he died, we called everyone in his black book and found a black space that couldn't be lifted by impotent wings.
- You've basically got every philosophical intellectual voice in the culture telling them they reason is impotent.
Examples
-
Doctors remained largely impotent when it came to treating infectious disease.
Academic text (2010) -
After being sidelined from the project, I felt utterly impotent to contribute to the discussions.
-
I felt impotent and out of control, which I really hate.
-
It's enough to make a man feel impotent.
-
The truth is that you're not impotent at all.
-
He was feeling impotent, just like you may be feeling.
-
I believe that the prospect of responsibility has rendered you impotent.
-
But we spoke in muffled and impotent voices that were stifled by other, more urgent concerns.
Fiction book (1991) -
No president likes to appear impotent, much less Nixon with his macho posturings and tough-guy talk.
Academic text (1990) -
Any religious practice that refuses to wrestle with the world's injustices is as impotent as it is self-serving.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
809
1.0
Not having the skill, strength or things needed to do something
290
1.6
Not able to control people or make strong decisions
243
2.0
Not able to act or protect yourself
162
3.4
Not able to do or experience something
138
3.6
Unable to do or stop something because you have no control
27
3.7
Not strong or effective in producing results
24
5.7
Lacking strength, courage, or strong flavor
7
5.5
Not able to make a law or rule work
2
5.5
Not strong enough to do something well
1
7.0
Not able to make decisions or influence things
1
4.2
Not able to do anything, often because of injury or fear
Unable to control or change a situation
Not strong and not able to make things happen
Not strong and without power to act or change things
Not strong or effective enough to make an impression
Not having power or influence to make changes
Something that has no power to harm or control others and so is not effective
Very weak and cannot help or lead
Antonyms
How Powerful
∞
3.0
945
1.4
90
3.4
25
6.8
243
2.0
138
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Impotent comes from the parts in- 'not' and potent 'powerful', the same root as the English word potent. So to be impotent is to be 'without power', unable to act or stop something.