noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Powerlessness; incapacity. uncountable, usually

   "Near-synonyms: weakness, helplessness"

2. 2
   the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble wordnet
3. 3
   Inability to copulate or beget children; sterility, erectile dysfunction, etc. uncountable, usually
4. 4
   an inability (usually of the male animal) to copulate wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

powerlessnessdisabilityerectile dysfunctionabsurdityadynamiaaimlessness

Antonyms

All antonyms

authoritypotencepotencypower

Example

More examples

"Excessive drinking is one of the causes of impotence."

Etymology

From Middle French impotence, from Latin impotentia.

Related phrases

monetary impotenceerectile dysfunction

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.