Meaning of impotent in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Qualitative Adjective
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈɪmpətnt/

    US accent Play button

    UK accent Play button

  1. Qualitative Adjective

    impotent

    Etymology

    late Middle English: via Old French from Latin impotent-‘powerless’, from in-‘not’ + potent- (see potent)

    Definitions

    1. lacking power or ability

    Examples

    • « Technology without morality is barbarous »
    • « morality without technology is impotent- Freeman J.Dyson »
    • « felt impotent rage »

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

  2. 2. (of a male) unable to copulate

    Antonyms

Famous quotes

  • « I was starting to become impotent through this diet and couldn't perform. How many people who are taking the little blue pill, if they started to change what they are eating most of the time, could change the way their sex life is? »
    Morgan Spurlock
  • « I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete. »
    Ronald Reagan
  • « Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy. »
    P. J. O'Rourke
  • « It is veneer, rouge, aestheticism, art museums, new theaters, etc. that make America impotent. The good things are football, kindness, and jazz bands. »
    George Santayana
  • « Anger is the most impotent of passions. It effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed. »
    Carl Sandburg

Browse dictionary