1
as in sterile
not able to produce fruit or offspring
most mules are impotent
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in helpless
unable to act or achieve one's purpose
an impotent ruler who was just a figurehead
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of impotent
This unsettling thriller about impotent (emotionally, literally) university professor Ali (Turkish star Ekin Koç), on the path to vengeance after the suspicious death of his mother, scored strong reviews (including my own) and the World Cinema Directing Award out of the Utah festival.
—
Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 14 Nov. 2025
Yet the Jets' offense was again impotent.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2025
Ethics without efficiency are impotent.
—Karlo Tanjuakio, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
What the Texas Legislature is doing is indefensible – gerrymandering necessarily involves taking portions of the electorate and rendering their voices impotent.
—Rafael Perez, Oc Register, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impotent
Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 14 Nov. 2025
Yet the Jets' offense was again impotent.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2025
Ethics without efficiency are impotent.
—Karlo Tanjuakio, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
What the Texas Legislature is doing is indefensible – gerrymandering necessarily involves taking portions of the electorate and rendering their voices impotent.
—Rafael Perez, Oc Register, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impotent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impotent
Adjective
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Scientists have discovered more than 6,000 exoplanets to date, but the majority of them are probably sterile worlds.—
Joanna Thompson,
Space.com,
28 Mar. 2026
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The ones sold on the market were supposed to be sterile, meaning the seeds in the fruits weren’t supposed to germinate and grow.—
Markis Hill,
Kansas City Star,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Weaponized incompetence, or the practice of being so helpless that the labor simply falls on someone else, has long been a feature of domestic life.—
Catherina Gioino,
Fortune,
1 Apr. 2026
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But Lumet and screenwriter Frank Pierson ease up on the laughs as Sonny’s predicament grows more helpless, allowing the audience to feel his desperation as the drama barrels toward a tragic finale.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In some places, fish catches declined precipitously in medium depths, which Joye attributes to nutritionally barren conditions.—
Jeffrey Marlow,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
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His dread turned to panic when Hochheiser, 79, was unloaded at Villa Rosa III, a 48-bed assisted living home with peeling paint, burglar bars, barren planters and a history of poor care.—
Carol Marbin Miller,
Miami Herald,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Carrington said Ny'Leek died of cardiac arrest Thursday, a little more than a year after surviving a hit-and-run that left him paralyzed from the neck down.—
Ryan Hughes,
CBS News,
28 Mar. 2026
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The conflict has physically split the energy world into two paralyzed halves.—
Siddharth Misra,
Fortune,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The slide appears to have involved a thick slab of soft snow breaking loose at a weak layer in the snowpack, the report said.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
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Endowed not only with a privileged birthright but—unlike the actual princes over in England, who had weak chins and went bald young—the physical stature to match?—
Jeffrey Eugenides,
New Yorker,
4 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impotent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impotent. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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