powerless

powerless

English

Etymology

From Middle English pouerles, powerles, equivalent to power +‎ -less.

Adjective

powerless (comparative more powerless, superlative most powerless)

1. 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.

   • 1914, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

     It is said that his right arm had grown powerless from having been raised so often over the heads of those whom he baptized.

2. Lacking legal authority.

   The traffic warden was powerless to stop me driving away.

Synonyms

• mightless
• strengthless
• weak
• vulnerable

Antonyms

• powerful
• strong

Derived terms

• powerlessness
• superpowerless

Translations

lacking sufficient power or strength

Czech: bezmocný Dutch: machteloos (nl) Esperanto: senpova Finnish: voimaton (fi), heikko (fi) French: impuissant (fr) German: kraftlos (de) Greek: Ancient: ἀδύνατος (adúnatos) Hungarian: erőtlen (hu) Interlingua: impotente Italian: impotente (it)

Japanese: 弱い (ja) (yowai), 脆い (ja) (moroi) Latin: nequiens, impotens Macedonian: немоќен (nemokjen) Manx: neuphooaral Maori: hangenge, mīere, rōrā, kahakore, mohemohe, ngoikore, paraheahea Norwegian: maktesløs Polish: bezsilny (pl) Portuguese: impotente Russian: бесси́льный (ru) (bessílʹnyj), беспо́мощный (ru) (bespómoščnyj) Serbo-Croatian: nemoćan (sh), obesnažen Spanish: impotente

lacking legal authority

Dutch: machteloos (nl) Finnish: voimaton (fi) German: machtlos (de) Greek: Ancient: ἀκρατής (akratḗs) Hungarian: tehetetlen (hu)

Latin: nequiens, impotens Maori: manakore Norwegian: maktesløs Russian: безвла́стный (ru) (bezvlástnyj), неправомо́чный (ru) (nepravomóčnyj) Serbo-Croatian: nepravomoćan (sh)