Impotent
adjective
Unable to achieve sexual arousal or satisfaction.
After his surgery, he found himself impotent.
Often appears as...
- found himself impotent
- became impotent
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not having the necessary power or influence.
The government seemed impotent in the face of such large scale rebellion.
Often appears as...
- seemed impotent
- feel impotent
Usage tips
Disapproving
Academic
adjective
Lacking effectiveness or strength.
His impotent rage was ignored by everyone around him.
Often appears as...
- impotent rage
- remain impotent
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Medically, not able to get or keep erections (male), or establish pregnancy (female).
She was rendered impotent after the cancer treatment.
Often appears as...
- rendered impotent
- medically impotent
Usage tips
Neutral
Medical
adjective
Unable to achieve sexual arousal or satisfaction.
After his surgery, he found himself impotent.
Often appears as...
- found himself impotent
- became impotent
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not having the necessary power or influence.
The government seemed impotent in the face of such large scale rebellion.
Often appears as...
- seemed impotent
- feel impotent
Usage tips
Disapproving
Academic
adjective
Lacking effectiveness or strength.
His impotent rage was ignored by everyone around him.
Often appears as...
- impotent rage
- remain impotent
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Medically, not able to get or keep erections (male), or establish pregnancy (female).
She was rendered impotent after the cancer treatment.
Often appears as...
- rendered impotent
- medically impotent
Usage tips
Neutral
Medical
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Sexual Context
Used to describe sexual dysfunction, often sensitive and personal.
He struggled with feeling impotent after the injury.
Pro Tip 2/2Figurative Use
Sometimes used metaphorically to express lack of power in other areas.
Economically, the country felt impotent against the global recession.
Pro Tip 1/2Sexual Context
Used to describe sexual dysfunction, often sensitive and personal.
He struggled with feeling impotent after the injury.
Pro Tip 2/2Figurative Use
Sometimes used metaphorically to express lack of power in other areas.
Economically, the country felt impotent against the global recession.
Pro Tip 1/2Sexual Context
Used to describe sexual dysfunction, often sensitive and personal.
He struggled with feeling impotent after the injury.
Pro Tip 2/2Figurative Use
Sometimes used metaphorically to express lack of power in other areas.
Economically, the country felt impotent against the global recession.
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Video examples
Ben Goldacre: Battling...
Some things they say prevent crusts, red pepper, licorice and coffee. So you can see there are contradictions. Coffee both causes and prevents cancer. As you start to read on, you can see that maybe there's some political valence behind some of this. For women, housework prevents breast cancer, but for men, shopping could make you impotent.
Video examples
The Cambodian myth of...
As the weapon flew through the air it cut through clouds, creating deep, rolling peals of thunder. And when the lightning and thunder mixed, precious seeds of water fell from rain. Mekhala drew close to Ream Eyso, now blind and impotent without his axe.
Video examples
A scientific approach to...
because it hasn't left, and I probably just look like this impotent, powerless thing that couldn't get it to go away. So every day I'd come home and you guys, this feeling got so bad that -- I mean, I'm laughing at it now --
Video examples
The gender-fluid history...
act like prudes and are so effeminate that one who does not know them would believe they are women. Almost all are impotent for the reproductive act, and thus they marry other males and sleep with them as man and wife
Video examples
Why should you read...
The dynamic of the two protagonists has also sparked intense debate. They’ve been read as survivors of the apocalypse, an aging couple, two impotent friends, and even as personifications of Freud’s ego and id.
Video examples
Liz Coleman's call to...
that defied credulity. A harrowing predilection for the uses of force had become commonplace, with an equal distaste for the alternative forms of influence. At the same time, all of our firepower was impotent
Video examples
A personal health coach...
I was drawn to help people live full lives. But often, I found myself feeling impotent. Here I was, a brand-new doctor with all these skills, but I couldn't cure my patients who had chronic diseases --
Video examples
Bay of Pigs PIPE Killing...
men dying on those beaches right now supposed to be the most powerful man in the world and I I'm impotent well I'll tell you why it's the last time anyone's gonna make a decision like that for me
Video examples
It's time to reclaim...
I can't do everything, but I can do something." In a world that conspires to make us believe that we are invisible and that we are impotent, religious communities and religious ritual
Video examples
The opportunity of...
stalled, maimed, wounded, mangled, lame, mutilated, run-down, worn-out, weakened, impotent, castrated, paralyzed, handicapped, senile, decrepit, laid-up, done-up, done-for, done-in
Video examples
Ben Goldacre: Battling...
Some things they say prevent crusts, red pepper, licorice and coffee. So you can see there are contradictions. Coffee both causes and prevents cancer. As you start to read on, you can see that maybe there's some political valence behind some of this. For women, housework prevents breast cancer, but for men, shopping could make you impotent.
Video examples
The Cambodian myth of...
As the weapon flew through the air it cut through clouds, creating deep, rolling peals of thunder. And when the lightning and thunder mixed, precious seeds of water fell from rain. Mekhala drew close to Ream Eyso, now blind and impotent without his axe.
Video examples
A scientific approach to...
because it hasn't left, and I probably just look like this impotent, powerless thing that couldn't get it to go away. So every day I'd come home and you guys, this feeling got so bad that -- I mean, I'm laughing at it now --
Video examples
The gender-fluid history...
act like prudes and are so effeminate that one who does not know them would believe they are women. Almost all are impotent for the reproductive act, and thus they marry other males and sleep with them as man and wife
Video examples
Why should you read...
The dynamic of the two protagonists has also sparked intense debate. They’ve been read as survivors of the apocalypse, an aging couple, two impotent friends, and even as personifications of Freud’s ego and id.
Video examples
Liz Coleman's call to...
that defied credulity. A harrowing predilection for the uses of force had become commonplace, with an equal distaste for the alternative forms of influence. At the same time, all of our firepower was impotent
Video examples
A personal health coach...
I was drawn to help people live full lives. But often, I found myself feeling impotent. Here I was, a brand-new doctor with all these skills, but I couldn't cure my patients who had chronic diseases --
Video examples
Bay of Pigs PIPE Killing...
men dying on those beaches right now supposed to be the most powerful man in the world and I I'm impotent well I'll tell you why it's the last time anyone's gonna make a decision like that for me
Video examples
It's time to reclaim...
I can't do everything, but I can do something." In a world that conspires to make us believe that we are invisible and that we are impotent, religious communities and religious ritual
Video examples
The opportunity of...
stalled, maimed, wounded, mangled, lame, mutilated, run-down, worn-out, weakened, impotent, castrated, paralyzed, handicapped, senile, decrepit, laid-up, done-up, done-for, done-in
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Marc Platt
American Producer
I do remember feeling, 'I don't ever want to feel impotent in terms of what I can control in a business in which you can have very little control.' And that motivated me to go to law school - that, and my parents saying, 'Go to law school before you do anything.
Quote examples
David Dobkin
American Director
Art is the only thing that can save me from my opinions about the world. I tend to get very worked up about what I see going on, and I feel, you know, impotent to make the kind of changes and the kind of difference that I would like to make.
Quote examples
Ronald Reagan
American President
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.
Quote examples
Morgan Spurlock
American Director
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?
Quote examples
Robert Foster Bennett
American Politician
The U.N. can be very frustrating and at times impotent, but it can also be a valuable forum for discussion and resolution of world problems. We should not walk away from it just because it's failed to live up to its promise.
Quote examples
Wassily Kandinsky
Russian Artist
The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended.
Quote examples
Carl Sandburg
American Poet
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.
Quote examples
Pat Robertson
American Clergyman
I know one man who was impotent who gave AIDS to his wife and the only thing they did was kiss.
Quote examples
Tony Robbins
American Speaker
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals - that is, goals that do not inspire them.
Quote examples
Blaise Pascal
French Philosopher
Law, without force, is impotent.
Quote examples
Marc Platt
American Producer
I do remember feeling, 'I don't ever want to feel impotent in terms of what I can control in a business in which you can have very little control.' And that motivated me to go to law school - that, and my parents saying, 'Go to law school before you do anything.
Quote examples
David Dobkin
American Director
Art is the only thing that can save me from my opinions about the world. I tend to get very worked up about what I see going on, and I feel, you know, impotent to make the kind of changes and the kind of difference that I would like to make.
Quote examples
Ronald Reagan
American President
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.
Quote examples
Morgan Spurlock
American Director
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?
Quote examples
Robert Foster Bennett
American Politician
The U.N. can be very frustrating and at times impotent, but it can also be a valuable forum for discussion and resolution of world problems. We should not walk away from it just because it's failed to live up to its promise.
Quote examples
Wassily Kandinsky
Russian Artist
The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended.
Quote examples
Carl Sandburg
American Poet
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.
Quote examples
Pat Robertson
American Clergyman
I know one man who was impotent who gave AIDS to his wife and the only thing they did was kiss.
Quote examples
Tony Robbins
American Speaker
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals - that is, goals that do not inspire them.
Quote examples
Blaise Pascal
French Philosopher
Law, without force, is impotent.
Example 1 of 10
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