as in inability
the lack of sufficient ability, power, or means
the congressional committee's essential impotence in affecting the management of the war was frustrating to its members
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Recent Examples of impotence
As such, side effects of surgery and radiation therapy for prostate cancer often include incontinence, impotence and bowel dysfunction.
—
Michael Irving, New Atlas, 9 Jan. 2025
The response is similar concerning United’s impotence in front of goal.
—Laurie Whitwell, The Athletic, 16 Feb. 2025
The League of Nations, bereft of U.S. support, languished into impotence, and only in the aftermath of World War II did the United States begin to approximate Wilson’s vision of a Pax Americana.
—Richard Menger Md Mpa, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, those totems of Democratic impotence, entered together and acted as if they’d been instructed never to shoot each other so much as a passing glance.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impotence
Michael Irving, New Atlas, 9 Jan. 2025
The response is similar concerning United’s impotence in front of goal.
—Laurie Whitwell, The Athletic, 16 Feb. 2025
The League of Nations, bereft of U.S. support, languished into impotence, and only in the aftermath of World War II did the United States begin to approximate Wilson’s vision of a Pax Americana.
—Richard Menger Md Mpa, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, those totems of Democratic impotence, entered together and acted as if they’d been instructed never to shoot each other so much as a passing glance.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impotence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impotence
Noun
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And yet, progress waits for no one—failing to adapt will lead to inefficiencies and an inability to meet evolving consumer demands, causing such banks to be left behind.—
Roman Eloshvili,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
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And there’s a blunt, pulp poetry to Manny’s conclusion (if not a particularly sensitive one), driven to despair by an inability to live in the dissonant but very real space between one’s religious moral compass and the realities of one’s life.—
Andy Andersen,
Vulture,
18 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impotence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impotence. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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