impotent
/ˈɪmpətənt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈɪmpətənt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈim-pə-tənt/ (ame, mw)
impotent — adjective
- impotentpositive
- more impotentcomparative
- most impotentsuperlative
1. lacking the strength, authority, or resources needed to affect what is happening
lacking the strength, authority, or resources needed to affect what is happening, often when you wish you could intervene
Local farmers felt impotent as Quinn's mining company drained their wells.
predicative use: feel impotent + as-clause
The small town council was impotent against the highway project funded by the federal government.
collocation: impotent against [stronger force]
Without backup from headquarters, Detective Mert stood impotent in front of the angry crowd.
Aid workers in the refugee camp were impotent to stop the spread of cholera.
The new regulations have left the consumer protection agency utterly impotent.
- powerless
more neutral and more common; impotent carries a stronger sense of frustrated will
- helpless
emphasises lack of means to help oneself or others; less about formal authority
- ineffectual
stresses that one's actions produce no result, even if attempted
用法筆記
Frequently predicative (after be, feel, leave, stand) and often paired with against + opposing force or to + infinitive describing the action you cannot take. Distinguish from sense 2 and 3 (specifically about male sexual or reproductive function).
常見錯誤
2. describing a man whose penis does not become or stay firm enough for sexual inte
describing a man whose penis does not become or stay firm enough for sexual intercourse, usually as a medical condition
After his prostate surgery, João worried he might be permanently impotent.
Heavy drinking over many years had left Christopher impotent by his early fifties.
collocation: leave [someone] impotent
Some blood-pressure medicines can make men temporarily impotent.
The clinic offers counselling for couples when one partner has become impotent.
- potent
in the specific sexual sense, increasingly rare in modern English
用法筆記
Predicative only in this sense; not normally used attributively before a noun. Subject is always a male human or a man's body. In modern clinical writing, 'with erectile dysfunction' has largely replaced 'impotent' as the preferred term.
常見錯誤
3. describing a man whose body cannot produce a baby with a partner, often used in
describing a man whose body cannot produce a baby with a partner, often used in older texts where modern writers would say infertile
Old medical journals labelled men with low sperm counts as impotent, blurring two different conditions.
In the Victorian novel, the squire was described as impotent and so left his estate to a cousin.
literary/historical register
Some royal biographies hint that the king was impotent and never produced an heir.
Modern doctors say 'infertile' rather than impotent when a man cannot father a child.
- fertile
able to father children
用法筆記
Largely historical or literary. Distinguish from sense 2 — sense 2 is about erection, sense 3 is about producing offspring. In modern English, use 'infertile' for this meaning to avoid ambiguity.