IMPUISSANCE Synonyms: 65 Similar and Opposite Words

impuissance

noun

Definition of impuissance

as in impotence

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of impuissance But all of that will be moot if Washington’s rushing attack is not significantly improved from the impuissance of last season. — Ben Baskin, SI.com, 14 June 2018

Recent Examples of Synonyms for impuissance

Noun

This prescient issue is buried in a recent, must-read Free Press article by Niall Ferguson and John-Clark Levin that laments the growing impotence of the old-fashioned historian in the face of bots and algorithmic amplifications.

— The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 26 July 2026
The Iran and Gaza wars have thrown that absence and European strategic impotence into sharp relief.

— Galip Dalay, Time, 7 July 2026

Definition of impotence

Noun

Indignation emerged as the dominant emotion, cited by 80% of respondents, followed by helplessness (74%) and sadness (71%).

— Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 5 Aug. 2026
Europeans also exposed themselves to a concerted and resourceful Americanization, which partly accounts for their intellectual helplessness today.

— Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 28 July 2026

Definition of helplessness

Noun

When leaders pour their love into the world outside and don't save any for themselves, the difference leads to exhaustion.

— Gregory Stebbins, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Meganalisis said the results reflect a post-disaster mood defined by anger and emotional exhaustion.

— Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of exhaustion

Noun

Stranger by the Lake is a bookend of sorts to La Piscine, as both films seem to condemn their characters, and by extension, the counterculture surrounding them, to a lassitude incapable of any moral authority.

— Erik Morse, Vogue, 26 June 2025
The result of this lassitude is that cars still rule the streets.

— Justin Davidson, Curbed, 18 Apr. 2025

Definition of lassitude

Noun

There’s a desperation in his voice, a weariness that evokes bad nights’ sleep and endless doomscrolling, but there’s also a delicacy to his performance, a gentleness that has precedent in his catalog but still feels new.

— Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork, 17 July 2026
Eventually, weariness begins to affect more than just your mood.

— Scott Hanson, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026

Definition of weariness

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“Impuissance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impuissance. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of impuissance

noun

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