as in helpless
unable to act or achieve one's purpose
I wish I could help you, but I am powerless in this situation
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Recent Examples of powerless
In the milliseconds before a collision, truck drivers are often powerless to avert disaster.
—
Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
The Brewers had their own ace to play, though, and the Boston bats looked powerless against Jacob Misiorowski in the early innings.
—Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Local leaders are not powerless.
—Russell Hancock, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2026
Tethered to a drug that kept him alive, but powerless.
—Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for powerless
Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
The Brewers had their own ace to play, though, and the Boston bats looked powerless against Jacob Misiorowski in the early innings.
—Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Local leaders are not powerless.
—Russell Hancock, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2026
Tethered to a drug that kept him alive, but powerless.
—Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for powerless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for powerless
Adjective
-
Punk appeared helpless as Reigns picked him up.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
20 Apr. 2026
-
The show’s name referred to their self-identification as helpless babies overwhelmed by the pressures of modernity, comforted only by coating themselves in fancy serums and moisturizers to recreate the peaceful, placental insulation of the womb.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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One of the bullets in Monday’s shooting hit the teen’s spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, his mother said.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
30 Apr. 2026
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The result is a paralyzed country where the most vulnerable populations.—
Sarah Moreno
Updated April 29,
Miami Herald,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Based on the popular 1960s spy sitcom, this weak adaptation casts Steve Carell as a bumbling secret agent, with Hathaway as his more competent partner and developing love interest.—
Chris Feil,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
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In particular, researchers experimentally demonstrated quadsqueezing, a complex fourth-order quantum interaction previously considered too weak to observe.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Powerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/powerless. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
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