Crossword clues for impotent
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Impotent \Im"po*tent\, n.
One who is impotent. [R.]
--Shak.
Impotent \Im"po*tent\, a. [F. impotent, L. impotens, -entis; pref. im- not + potens potent, powerful. See Potent.]
-
Not potent; wanting power, strength. or vigor. whether physical, intellectual, or moral; deficient in capacity; destitute of force; weak; feeble; infirm.
There sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent inhis feet.
--Acts xiv. 8.O most lame and impotent conclusion!
--Shak.Not slow to hear, Nor impotent to save.
--Addison. -
Wanting the power of self-restraint; incontrolled; ungovernable; violent.
Impotent of tongue, her silence broke.
--Dryden. (Med.) Wanting the power of procreation; unable to copulate; also, sometimes, sterile; barren; specifically, in males: unable to achieve or sustain a penile erection.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "physically weak, enfeebled, crippled," from Old French impotent "powerless, weak, incapable," from Latin imponentem (nominative impotens) "lacking control, powerless," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + ponentem (nominative potens) "potent" (see potent).\n
\nMeaning "having no power to accomplish anything" is from mid-15c.; that of "completely lacking in sexual power" (of males) is from mid-15c. Middle English also had a native term for this: Cunt-beaten (mid-15c.). The figurative sense in Latin was "without self-control, headstrong, violent." Related: Impotently.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Lacking physical strength or vigor; weak. 2 Lacking in power, as to act effectively; helpless 3 Incapable of sexual intercourse, often because of an inability to achieve or sustain an erection. 4 (context of a male English) sterile. 5 (context obsolete English) Lacking self-restraint.
WordNet
Usage examples of "impotent".
They are by nature impotent to protect certain classes of society, such as artizans, merchants, literary men, lawyers, soldiers, etc.
Congress is impotent to control the intrastate charges of an interstate carrier even to the extent necessary to prevent injurious discrimination against interstate traffic.
Somewhere in the darkness right in front of him, beyond the window, the impotent Bigelow snored on, hoglike, lying in state next to his frigid cow of a wife.
When the blast struck the Veil the hyperexcited ions metamorphosed into inert pebbles that dropped to the floor in an impotent clatter.
But here in America Kusum was reduced to an impotent supplicant standing before this stranger, asking for help.
When the settlers, leaning from their windows, gazed on the huge watery masses breaking beneath their eyes, they could not but admire the magnificent spectacle of the ocean in its impotent fury.
On the other hand, intemperate indulgence not only prevents fruitfulness, but ultimately, if persisted in, renders the husband entirely impotent, and undermines and destroys the constitution of the wife.
Reeve helpless, Janet Speke and the Squire in impotent rage and, best of all, Barry Erskine with his helmet-brim on his nose and blood gushing onto his shoulders.
She must have credited me with a diabolic appetite, but these women often contrive to extract charms out of their depravity which their delicacy would be impotent to furnish.
With an impotent whimper, Declan collapsed onto first one and then the other elbow, drawing his knees up close beneath his chest.
Hamlin, still roaring with turbulent inner laughter, was sending up scene after scene out of his no doubt actual experience, coupling with Lissa in this position, in that one, Lissa on top, Lissa down on her knees being had dogwise, the whole copulatory biography of their long-age liaison, and Macy, helpless, his phantom images of Jeanie Grossman and the encyclopedia woman swept away by this gushing incursion of reality, lay stunned and sobbing and impotent waiting for Hamlin to stop tormenting him.
Still launching, the Firebirds left the pod and their exhaust winked out, the impotent rockets falling to the ground and breaking apart, spilling their precious cargo of black powder.
Ottoman enters upon the impotent, repentant, admonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and grown to an exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the meridians and parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young Leviathan from his amorous errors.
Saddam to undermine the inspections himself, flout the authority of the Security Council, and make the United States look impotent.
Magi had been attempting to garner what situation the Kurma where in, without making them feel anymore impotent than what they already were.