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powerless. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
powerless, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
powerless in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
powerless you have here. The definition of the word
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powerless, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English pouerles, powerles, equivalent to power + -less.
Pronunciation
Adjective
powerless (comparative more powerless, superlative most powerless)
- Lacking sufficient power or strength.
- I admit that I am powerless over my hatred towards white people in ways that I am unable to recognize fully, both at this time and in the past.
1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 362:In Sweden, as we saw, the mistletoe which is gathered on Midsummer Eve is attached to the ceiling of the house, the horse's stall or the cow's crib, in the belief that this renders the Troll powerless to injure man and beast.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, , →OCLC, part I, page 196:“Imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate.”
- Lacking legal authority.
- The traffic warden was powerless to stop me driving away.
- Without electricity or electrical power.
- During the storm, the entire neighborhood was left powerless for several hours
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
lacking sufficient power or strength
- Arabic: ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf), عَاجِز (ʕājiz)
- Belarusian: бяссі́льны (bjassílʹny), немо́цный (njemócnyj), бездапамо́жны (bjezdapamóžny), бяспо́мачны (bjaspómačny)
- Bulgarian: безси́лен (bg) (bezsílen), не́мощен (bg) (némošten), безпо́мощен (bg) (bezpómošten)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 無力的/无力的 (zh) (wúlì de)
- Czech: bezmocný (cs)
- Dutch: machteloos (nl)
- Esperanto: senpova
- Finnish: voimaton (fi), heikko (fi)
- French: impuissant (fr)
- Georgian: უძლური (uʒluri)
- German: kraftlos (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: ἀδύνατος (adúnatos)
- Hungarian: erőtlen (hu), gyenge (hu), tehetetlen (hu)
- Interlingua: impotente
- Italian: impotente (it)
- Japanese: 弱い (ja) (よわい, yowai), 脆い (ja) (もろい, moroi), 無力な (ja) (むりょくな, muryoku na)
- Korean: 무력하다 (ko) (muryeokhada)
- Latin: nequiens, impotens
- Macedonian: немоќен (nemoḱen)
- Manx: neuphooaral
- Maori: hangenge, mīere (mi), rōrā, kahakore, mohemohe, ngoikore, paraheahea
- Norwegian: maktesløs
- Polish: bezsilny (pl)
- Portuguese: impotente
- Russian: бесси́льный (ru) (bessílʹnyj), беспо́мощный (ru) (bespómoščnyj), не́мощный (ru) (némoščnyj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: не̏моћан, обеснажен, бе̏спомоћан
- Roman: nȅmoćan, obesnažen, bȅspomoćan
- Slovak: bezmocný
- Slovene: nemočen
- Spanish: impotente (es)
- Tocharian B: avaṣi
- Ukrainian: безси́лий (uk) (bezsýlyj), не́мічний (némičnyj), безпо́мічний (uk) (bezpómičnyj)
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