powerless

English

Etymology

From power +‎ -less

Adjective

powerless (comparative more powerless, superlative most powerless)

1. Lacking sufficient power or strength.

   You are powerless to stop me

   • 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.

Derived terms

• powerlessness
• superpowerless

Translations

lacking sufficient power or strength

• Czech: bezmocný (cs) m
• Dutch: machteloos (nl)
• Finnish: voimaton (fi), heikko (fi)
• French: impuissant (fr)
• German: kraftlos (de)
• Hungarian: erőtlen (hu)

• Latin: nequiens (la), impotens (la)
• Manx: neuphooaral (gv)
• Norwegian: maktesløs (no)
• Polish: bezsilny (pl) m
• Russian: бессильный (ru) (bessílʹnyj), беспомощный (ru) (bespómoščnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: nemoćan (sh), obesnažen (sh)

lacking legal authority

• Dutch: machteloos (nl)
• Finnish: voimaton (fi)
• German: machtlos (de)
• Hungarian: tehetetlen (hu)
• Latin: nequiens (la), impotens (la)

• Norwegian: maktesløs (no)
• Russian: безвластный (ru) (bezvlástnyj), неправомочный (ru) (nepravomóčnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: nepravomoćan (sh)