powerlessness

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English powerless

Proto-Germanic *-in-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti

Proto-Germanic *-ōną

Proto-Germanic *-inōną

Proto-Indo-European *-dyé-

Proto-Germanic *-atjaną

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Germanic *-þuz

Proto-Germanic *-assuz

Proto-Germanic *-inassuz

Proto-West Germanic *-nassī

Old English -nes

Middle English -nesse

English -ness

English powerlessness

From powerless + -ness.

Noun

powerlessness (usually uncountable, plural powerlessnesses)

1. The state or character of being powerless; absence or lack of power.

   Synonym: impotence

   Antonyms: power, powerfulness

   Coordinate term: weakness

   Near-synonym: helplessness

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 47:

     In July 1717, a commission established by Orléans to adjudicate the issue had emphatically denied the successoral claims of the two brothers, and the Regent declared himself in a state of ‘happy powerlessness to alienate the crown's domain’.

Translations

The state or character of being powerless

• Belarusian: бяссі́лле n (bjassíllje)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無力 / 无力 (zh) (wúlì)

• Czech: bezmocnost f
• Finnish: voimattomuus (fi)
• French: impuissance (fr) f
• German: Machtlosigkeit (de) f
• Hindi: असमर्थता (hi) f (asmarthatā), अक्षमता (hi) f (akṣamtā), अशक्ति (hi) f (aśakti), शक्तिहीनता f (śaktihīntā)
• Hungarian: tehetetlenség (hu), gyengeség (hu), erőtlenség (hu)
• Irish: easpa cumhachta f, neamhchumhacht f, neamhéifeacht f
• Japanese: 無力 (ja) (むりょく, muryoku)
• Latin: impotentia
• Macedonian: немоќ (nemoḱ)
• Manx: neuchummaght f
• Māori: mieretanga
• Persian: ناتوانی (fa) (nâtavâni), ضعف (fa) (za'f)
• Polish: bezsiła f, bezsilność (pl) f, niemoc (pl) f
• Russian: бесси́лие (ru) n (bessílije)
• Sanskrit: अक्षमा (sa) f (akṣamā), अशक्ति (sa) f (aśakti)
• Spanish: impotencia (es) f
• Swedish: vanmakt (sv) c, maktlöshet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: безси́лля (uk) n (bezsýllja)

See also

• helplessness

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “powerlessness”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “powerlessness” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.