impotent

/ˈɪmpətɪnt/

/ˈɪmpətɪnt/

Impotent means lacking power or authority. Captain Bligh was impotent in the face of Christian's mutiny. It also refers to a man's inability to achieve or maintain an erection. If a man is sterile, or unable to reproduce, he is also called impotent.

Those wacky ancients really knew how to mess with you — simply add the prefix im to the front of potent, which means "powerful," and you get its opposite — "powerless." While Viagra can help when the problems are physiological, an impotent leader has lost his ability to govern. No little blue pill will dig him out of that hole. It can also allude to a certain meaninglessness, such as the music critic who wrote that the easy listening genre of pop was so dull as to be "the soundtrack to impotence."

Definitions of impotent

1. adjective

   (of a male) unable to copulate
   antonyms:

   potent

   (of a male) capable of copulation
2. adjective

   lacking power or ability
   “"morality without technology is impotent"- Freeman J.Dyson”

   “felt impotent rage”

   synonyms:

   infertile, sterile, unfertile

   incapable of reproducing

   ineffective, ineffectual, unable

   lacking in power or forcefulness

   impuissant

   lacking physical strength or vigor

   powerless

   lacking power

   antonyms:

   potent

   having a strong physiological or chemical effect

   effective, effectual, efficacious

   producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect

   fertile

   capable of reproducing

   equipotent

   having equal strength or efficacy

   multipotent

   able to many things

   impactful, powerful

   having great power or force or potency or effect