Example Sentences

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 powerless Weightlifting was an antidote to feeling powerless. Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2025 More than a thousand miles away in New Delhi, Mohammad waits for his daughter, powerless to save her for a second time from the horrors faced by their community in Myanmar. Esha Mitra, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2025 The text is meant to illustrate (with humor) just how powerless some parents feel during the weaning process. Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 11 Sep. 2025 Moro was powerless and eventually was killed. Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 10 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for powerless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for powerless
Adjective
  • This is obvious enough in the contrast between the aggressive takedown in humor and the helpless surrender in tears.
    Big Think, Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
  • The series also starred Portia de Rossi as the family's layabout daughter, Lindsay; David Cross as her aspiring actor husband, Tobias; Alia Shawkat as their teen daughter, Maeby; Jessica Walter as the family's elitist matriarch, Lucille; and Tony Hale as the dynasty's helpless youngest son, Buster.
    Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • While many workers consider job changes, those who approach transitions strategically have a significant advantage over those who act impulsively or remain paralyzed by uncertainty.
    Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Her son was left paralyzed from the mid-chest down, had to have his left leg amputated at the knee and two thirds of his bowel removed — and almost a month later, is still in the hospital, where he is intubated and fighting an infection.
    Janelle Griffith, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Kleptocratic governments are not weak or failing, Chayes argues in this paradigm-shifting 2015 book.
    Zephyr Teachout, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2025
  • The plan to tap geothermal energy answered the key question of power provision, getting around Africa’s chronically weak grids with the green, baseload electricity required for digital infrastructure.
    Alexis Akwagyiram, semafor.com, 22 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Powerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/powerless. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.

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