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POWERLESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lacking power
Classified under:
Similar:
feeble; nerveless (lacking strength)
helpless; incapacitated (lacking in or deprived of strength or power)
low-powered (having little power to do work)
weak (not having authority, political strength, or governing power)
Also:
ineffective; ineffectual; uneffective (not producing an intended effect)
impotent (lacking power or ability)
weak (wanting in physical strength)
Attribute:
power; powerfulness (possession of controlling influence)
Antonym:
powerful (having great power or force or potency or effect)
Derivation:
powerlessness (the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble)
Context examples:
My uncle sat grave and thoughtful, eating nothing and drumming his fingers upon the table, while my heart was heavy within me, and I could have sunk my face into my hands and burst into tears as I thought how powerless I was to aid my friend.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Sam, loud and overbearing as he was, she rather regretted when he went, for he was clever and intelligent, and glad to be employed in any errand in the town; and though spurning the remonstrances of Susan, given as they were, though very reasonable in themselves, with ill-timed and powerless warmth, was beginning to be influenced by Fanny's services and gentle persuasions; and she found that the best of the three younger ones was gone in him: Tom and Charles being at least as many years as they were his juniors distant from that age of feeling and reason, which might suggest the expediency of making friends, and of endeavouring to be less disagreeable.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the usual pace.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
He seemed to devour me with his flaming glance: physically, I felt, at the moment, powerless as stubble exposed to the draught and glow of a furnace: mentally, I still possessed my soul, and with it the certainty of ultimate safety.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
On the water he is powerless except at night; even then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
He has a start, but he is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw him in the stream where he perish.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
